Thanks to iplayer, there's still time to catch an appearance by Beano writer and artist Kev F. Sutherland on the BBC's The One Show, which featured an item on the 70th birthday of the comic on Wednesday.
With a mix of archive footage and interviews, Giles Brandreth charted the history of the comic and its companion paper, The Dandy, and spoke with Kev during one of his many comics masterclasses that he gives all over the country in schools. Later in the episode the very first issue of The Beano - one of about twelve know still to exist -- was shown, with Giles offering a few of the (now politically incorrect) jokes from its pages.
The children in the item had a clear idea of what would sell comics - violence and goo, mainly! - but there was still huge enthusiasm for comics, and a positive take on the medium's future from both kids, Giles and Kev.
• Watch The One Show (item is about ten minutes in)
• Kev's art in the feature is part of our Beano Birthday Section
• Visit Kev's web site
Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park and Beano editor Alan Digby were interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, part of the ongoing celebrations for the weekly comic as it fast approaches its 70th birthday.
Park, who is guest editing the 70th anniversary issue this month, again waxed lyrical about the Beano's timeles quality, feeling that like it or not the comic was part of Britain's cultural identitly while Digby (who quickly denied the Beano had any culture!) explained the title's longevity as being down to having its own sense of identity and never becoming a slave to contemporary fashion.
The Today team have joined in the birthday fun by becoming part of a special comic strip, Humphrys and the Naughtie gang, which you can read on the programme's web site but will also feature in an upcoming issue of The Beano.
Presenter James Naughtie, usually something of a ferocious pack animal when it comes to top politicians, was clearly delighted by the upcoming appearance and far from his normal acerbic self during the piece!
• Listen to the interview with Nick Park and Alan Digby
• Read Humphrys and the Naughtie gang
(with thanks to Robin Ashwell): The BBC online News Magazine has just published an article on newspaper comic strips -- and is challenging readers to send in their own four panel creations.
The article, published to publicise self-taught artist (and occasisonal DJ, raconteur etc) Phill Jupitus' documentary Comic Love on Radio 4 (available at Radio 4's Listen Again site), notes that for as long as there has been the concept of daily newspapers, there has been the political cartoon. And in the 20th Century there has been a natural symbiosis between the modern newspaper and one particular form of cartoon, the four-panel strip.
The article notes the work of the creators of the Daily Telegraph's Alex strip, the controversy caused by Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury - including audio interviews with the US cartoonist - and features an exclsuive strip by Phil Jupitus himself (first panel above).
Readers -- and several have already commented on the article noting their favourite strips -- are also challenged to send in their own four-panel strips:
The BBC has announced plans to produce a web-page for every episode of every television show it has ever made, as part of an online archive that will span nearly eight decades of broadcasting history.
"From Dixon of Dock Green to David Attenborough's finest, Hancock's Half Hour and Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC has vowed to create a home on the web for all its programmes past and present, in an attempt to exploit the "long tail" of its archive," the Guardian reports. "Spanning 81 years of radio and television, the project will create a web page for every episode of every single programme ever broadcast on the BBC, and be the basis of a future plan to introduce a searchable vault of archived shows."
The Telegraph notes that the BBC has already created more than 160,000 individual web pages over the past three months for the project, with developers looking to create content for shows going back to the 1930s.
The plan would we expect also include SF shows such as A for Andromeda, Day of the Triffids, Doctor Who, Quatermass, Survivors and the many other shows produced by the BBC.
Each web-page will include basic information about each show as well as where it could be seen, either on television, the iPlayer broadband catch-up service or elsewhere on the internet, as well as video or audio clips, but the Daily Mail says the corporation hopes eventually to make whole programmes available.
The BBC does of course hold a huge amount of additional information on the making of many of its programmes, used by researchers such as Andrew Pixley in the writing of his archive pieces for Doctor Who Magazine in the past. Whether any of that would be included - such as details of music used in the show, location shooting details etc. - has not been stated.
The project, set in motion last year under director general Mark Thompson's plan to overhaul the BBC for the digital age, was outlined in detail by the director of BBC Vision, Jana Bennett (pictured here at a Media Masterclass she gave at Bournemouth University on "Changing Media"), at the Banff Television Festival in Canada, where Thompson also talked about the BBC's future after the broadcaster received an Outstanding Achivement Award.
• Read the full Guardian article
• Read the Daily Telegraph article
• Read the Daily Mail article (which includes an image from Doctor Who: The Aztecs)
As trailed yesterday, Blink Twice artist Lawrence Etherington appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning, as part of the BBC's coverage of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's role in Marvel's new Captain Britain and MI13 comic, written by Paul Cornell. (Brown is not, by the way, a superhero in the comic, but we thought our headline would grab your attention and is less long winded and boring than "Gordon Brown features in new Marvel Comic").
Not to be outdone, Robin was asked to turn the BBC Breakfast presenters into a comic strip during the show, which he did with his usual panache.
News that Gordon Brown appears in the top selling new Captain Britain comic has been picked up by both UK and overseas papers, from Newcastle's Journal (which notes the huge sales of the first issue) to the Daily Telegraph, the Mirror, the Mail, (helpfully pointing out Brown is not the charater in skin tight lycra in the comic), Variety and others.
The newspapers generally report Paul Cornell is "quite a fan" of Gordon Brown who, as far as we know, is not thought to be one of the hideous gree-skinned shape-shifting Skrull invaders Captain Britain is fighting in the comics.
"I'm pleased we've given him a PR boost on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world," says Paul adding that he wanted to se him portrayed as an effective leader.
"He's marshaling the troops, showing leadership and acting heroically," he said of the alien-busting Brown. "I feel quite sorry for him, so I'm glad I've contributed a bit."
Along with pop stars and other celebrities (a Skrull looking like John Lenon features in the new comic, too), US presidents have regularly appear in Marvel Comics - even discredited ones such as Richard Nixon, seen here in The Incredible Hulk #174 with Henry Kissinger, sourced by none other than cartoonist Fred Hembeck for his web site way back in 2004. But British PMs have also featured: Labour PM Jim Callaghan featured in Marvel UK's Captain Britain Weekly back in the 1970s (as did the Queen!) and their have been numerous other political cameos down the years.
Here's on for those early risers among you!
Word reaches us from the Blink Twice studio (creators of Monkey Nuts! for the new DFC comic) that Lawrence Etherington ("Lorenzo" to some) will be appearing on BBC Breakfast tomorrow (Wednesday 4 June) drawing a comic strip, live from 7.00 am (ish).
"There will be no preparation," his brother Robin told downthetubes, "Just him, a pencil, a biro, and a lot of sweat!
"If you wish to giggle at his funny face - and, fingers crossed, get a look at some of our artwork for our new series Monkey Nuts! - turn on, tune in and hopefully be amazed!"
Comic artist Jamie Hewlett and Blur band member Damon Albarn are to provide visuals for BBC Sport's marketing campaign and titles for the forthcoming Olympic Games, based on the traditional Chinese folklore Journey To The West.
The campaign, which will air in late July, will include animations and music especially produced by Hewlett and Albarn. with BBC Sport Executive Producer Jonathan Bramley describing the project as "a really exciting collaboration.
"To work with such renowned artists as Jamie and Damon is a real plus for BBC Sport," he said. "Their treatment of the trail and titles will kick start our Olympic coverage in a really different, energetic way."
London-based Hewlett (perhaps best known to comics fans as the co-creator of Tank Girl and the band, Gorillaz) worked with Albarn alongside the BBC to adapt Journey To The West, an epic quest for enlightenment, into the Olympic trail and titles, developing the animation and music especially for the BBC.
The BBC says campaign will feature the characters of Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy using Olympic sports on their journey to Beijing and the Bird's Nest stadium. The sports represented include gymnastics, hammer, sprinting and diving.
"The idea is that you tell the entire story of Journey To The West in a two-minute opening sequence," expalined Hewlett, "which is basically them on their way to the Olympic stadium, the Birds' Nest stadium."
The Beijing Olympics marketing campaign will feature promotional activity across TV, radio, online, mobile and interactive, and will also play throughout the Beijing Olympics programming via title sequences, in programme graphics and set design.
BBC Sport Marketing worked with retained agency RKCR to develop the strategic direction and creative realisation of the idea while Red Bee Media produced the trails and title sequence with Zombie Flesheaters (you've got to love that company name!) and Passion Pictures.
The aim is to target younger audiences through high profile websites such as Facebook, Bebo, MSN and social networking sites as well as mobile activity.
• The Journey to the West folklore is based on characters taken from the story of Monkey King, one of the four classic novels written by Wu Chen-en during the Ming Dynasty (1500–1584). The story has many layers of meaning and may be read on many different levels such as a quest, fantasy, personal search for self-cultivation, or a political/social satire.
The myths have also inspired comics, manga, anime and games. but in the West, its best known modern interpretation is probably the 1970s TV series Monkey, translated into English by the BBC. You have to wonder if they'll repeat it. (The complete series was released on DVD in 2004).
In 1986 Chinese Central Televsion made Journey to the West, noted for its faithfulness to the original novel and considered by many as a classic. The SciFiChannel made The Monkey King in 2001, also called The Lost Empire.
The story is an account of a monk, Xuan Zang (602-664), who went to India in the 7th Century to seek Buddhist scriptures to bring back to China.
(First posted 9/4/08, updated, 15/5/08): The Adipose began to take over Britain just days after the screening of the opening episode of the fourth season of Doctor Who, Partners in Crime.
The episode saw the Doctor and Donna (Catherine Tate) the villainous Miss Foster, a powerful business woman and alien Nanny (Sarah Lancashire), and her army of alien Adipose.
The cute Adipose - alien children created from excess fat from rotund couch potatoes (Adipose is the scientifiic name for fat tissue or body fat - no hidden meaning there, then) beyond the show, with an online petition demanding the BBC license a plush toy based on them and more.
Fortunately for Adipose fans, there seemed no need to wait until Christmas when such a toy might appear, because the nation's knitters stepped up to the plate and a lady known only as "Mazzmatazz" delivered a guide to making a woollen alien. Huzzah!
Unfortunately, this fan-created, not for profit pattern was ripped off by pirates who started selling Adipose online, prompting Mazzmatazz to remove the pattern from her site -- just as the patterns were also apparently attracting the attention of BBC Worldwide. Shame, but totally understandable. Given that knitter Hannah's talents extend to providing woollen hats for an Innocent drink ad campaign, perhaps the BBC will get her to come up with some official patterns - she also created designs for a knitted TARDIS, Ood and more.
A BBC News report published 14 May stated the patterns of Ood and Adipose were removed from her website after the BBC's commercial arm complained that they breached its trademark. "Mazzmatazz" says the corporation was "making an example of her".
"The patterns I created, inspired by Doctor Who, were never for sale," she stated on her web site. "They were shared under Creative Commons licenses, to prevent resale, so that other fans could enjoy and share the fun too.
"All I want is for the BBC to be fair. They either need to pursue all parties who have published without authorization instructions for Doctor Who crafts, or, they should permit all parties to publish fan-created instructions so long as they do not threaten the BBC’s intellectual property. To single me out for breach of copyright seems more like an act of making an example than a good faith defense of their copyright."
BBC Worldwide said it acted because finished figures were being sold by others on auction website eBay.
It also denied threatening legal action and as I hopd, it said it had indeed offered to consider marketing the designs itself.
The case is being publicised by the Open Rights Group, a lobbying organisation which specialises in digital rights issues. (There is a detailed analysis of the issues raised on Technollama by Andres Guadamuz, a member of the ORG and who has seen all the correspondence between the pattern creator and the BBC. The dispute boils down to the grey area of a fan providing a knitting pattern for fans in a not for profit manner and whether that is actually allowed. ORG's executive director Becky Hogge told BBC News: "["Mazzmatazz"] doesn't feel she's doing anything wrong yet she's being threatened with legal action."
"In the offline world, what she'd be doing would be fine. But because she's doing it online, which is a public space, it causes a problem."
A BBC Worlwide spokesman countered that it has every right to protect the BBC's commercial interests. "If you don't protect your trademark, it's taken away from you," he said. "And Doctor Who is massive for the BBC. It's up to us to earn money from it so we can re-invest it in the BBC,."However this all turns out, and whether some flexibility in copyright law can be discovered - both for fans and for the BBC - I don't think there's been as big a rush to wool shops since The Clangers first aired in the 1970s...
The BBC has just published an 88-page full-colour online interactive comic called Crash Course drawn by top British comics artist Neill Cameron.
Neill told downthetubes he spent "a good chunk of last year working on the comic for the BBC" which can be read for free via: Neill Cameron has just gone live, and can be read and enjoyed for free via www.bbc.co.uk/schools/studentlife/games/crashcourse
In Crash Course, eight students embark on a school trip where they end up learning more than they expected. Some find love, some find courage and others find goats. Join them on their journey and choose where the story takes you.
The SF comedy series Nebulous returns to BBC Radio 4 at 11 pm on Thursday 15 May for the first in a new series of six episodes.
The BBC2 programme The Comedy Map of Britain turned its attention to the North East of England for the third programme of the second series.
The BBC2 programme The Comedy Map Of Britain turned its attention to Scotland for the second programme of the second series. As well as taking Johnny Vegas back to the ruins of the Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh and Doon Mackichan to Fife, the programme also visited the hallowed, and very shiny, halls of D C Thomson in Dundee.
Beano editor Alan Digby takes the camera into the Beano office where the late Ian Gray talks about writing for the comic and his creation of Dennis The Menace’s dog Gnasher.
Selected clips are available on the programme’s website. To view the clip from the Beano office select the Aviemore To Edinburgh programme and The Home Of The Beano clip.
BBC Three has ordered a six-part series of the popular one-off drama, Being Human from Touchpaper Television, part of the RDF Media Group.
The intriguing pilot screened in February (as reported on downthetubes at the time), as part of the channel's drama pilot season and proved hugely popular with both viewers and critics peaking at nearly 450,000 viewers and gaining great reviews.
Starring Russell Tovey, Andrea Riseborough and Guy Flanaghan, the pilot of Being Human followed the lives of three flatmates; a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost in a witty, sexy and extraordinary look at the friendship between three 20-something outsiders trying to find their way in an enticing, yet complicated world.
Filming on the series, which will once again be written by Toby Whithouse, will start later this year for transmission in 2009.
"The pilot of Being Human gave us the opportunity to try something really unusual, and we were quite overwhelmed by the positive public response," said Executive producer for Touchpaper Television, Rob Pursey. "We're delighted that the BBC has given us the go-ahead for a full series."
"Of all our recent drama experiments on BBC Three, Being Human struck the most powerful chord with the audience," feels Danny Cohen, the Controller of BBC Three. "At its heart is a bold and adventurous concept and I'm looking forward to seeing how this is realised across a series."
Former One Foot in the Grave comedy star Richard Wilson is to star in a new 13-part drama Merlin BBC1 is lining up for a Saturday teatime slot which will screen later this year.
Independent production company Shine, who also made Sky One's Hex, is to begin filming the new drama, telling the story of legendary heroes Arthur and Merlin, next week.
The series will be shot on location in Wales, with Wilson playing Gaius, the court physician who becomes mentor to the young Merlin, who will be played by Colin Morgan.
The series has been in development for some time. Back in 2006, The Guardian reported the BBC was hoping to add Merlin to its roster of Saturday night dramas, revealing that even then the project had had a long a tortuous development history, going through several different guises before the current Shine version.
BBC1's Peter Fincham (who is now at ITV) said then that the plan to revamp Merlin for Saturday evenings will not spell the end for Robin Hood or Doctor Who, as each production could be played out at different times of the year depending on schedules.
“We have only scratched the surface of family viewing," The Stage reported. "Our appetite is not exhausted. We could certainly accommodate a third drama.”
Richard Wilson is of course no stranger to fantasy drama, having recently appeared in Doctor Who and whose credits also include Gulliver's Travels, Brave New World and The Last Van Helsing.
Newcomer Bradley James will play the young Arthur, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Anthony Head as his father. Another newcomer, Angel Golby, will play Guinevere and Katie McGrath (whose credits include the new thriller, Red Mist) is the sorceress Morgana.
Almost passing me by, just a quick note that BBC3 has ordered a full run of tongue-in-cheek kung-fu drama PPhoo Action.
Series creator Jamie (Tank Girl) Hewlett is working on six sixty minute episodes (which will hopefully be a lot better than the pilot!), which will be filmed in Glasgow by BBC Scotland, based on the comic strip Get The Freebies which appeared in The Face magazine.
Phoo Action follows the exploits of Terry Phoo (played by Eddie Shin), a Buddhist kung-fu law enforcement sweetheart and Whitey Action (Jaime Winstone), an enigmatic young anarchist turned super-cop.
Broadcast reports that BBC3 controller Danny Cohen's swift decision was prompted by the need to secure cast members Winstone and Shin before they signed up to other projects, but there's no word yet on whether Rocky star Carl Weathers, a casting coup in his role as Winstone's father, Police Chief Benjamin Benson, would return.
"We commissioned Phoo Action because it was original and bold," a BBC3 spokeswoman said. "We needed to exploit artist options before we ran out of time." The pilot secured 231,000 on airing as part of a revamped BBC3 line up, a 1.1% audience share.
Phoo Action was one of six one-hour pilots that have or will air on BBC3 in coming weeks. Any of them -- including the quite enjoyable Being Human, about a house sharing ampire, werewolf and a ghost - could still get a commission for a full series.
downthetubes was saddened to receive the news of the death of original Doctor Who producer, Verity Lambert. (Pictured here surrounded by monsters during filing of the epic story The Daleks' Master Plan)
Just broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday this week as an afternoon play was Solo behind the Iron Curtain, Tracy Spottiswoode's thriller is based on real events.
Actor Robert Vaughn, famous at the time as TV spy Napoleon Solo, is making a movie in Prague with several other Hollywood stars. Filming stops abruptly, however, when Russian tanks roll into Czechoslovakia. Cast and crew find themselves trapped. The Man from UNCLE must find a way to escape, and quickly.
The play is based on real events in 1968, during the brief flowering of freedom known as the Prague Spring. Vaughn was in Prague for the filming of Second World War feature The Bridge At Remagen, along with George Segal and Ben Gazzara. Helping them negotiate the tricky business of filming in a Communist country was their interpreter Pepsi, a young woman whose life had been changed that year by the relative freedoms brought by Alexander Dubcek's liberal reforms. It was too good to last.
On 20 August, filming ground to a halt when more than 5,000 Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia and Robert and the rest of the film's cast and crew found themselves trapped.
Robert vividly remembers the tanks with their big red stars painted on the side, and the guns, manned by alarmingly young Russian soldiers, which were turned on their hotel. As Americans and enemy aliens they had to find a way to escape and the ensuing adventure was worthy of the men from UNCLE.
Tracy Spottiswoode is an actor, writer and director whose plays are broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Wales, who presented Vaughn with the script for the radio play with a request for him to narrate the story. Vaughn so loved the script that he ended up agreeing to playing himself.
“I read it (the script) and I was absolutely astonished at how accurate it was – it was as if the writer Tracey Spottiswoode had lived it herself, it’s so exact,” Vaughn told the Western Mail.
“It was an extraordinary time for us as actors and for the Czech people around us," he added. "We were waiting to see what our fate would be.
“During my career, I’ve been under house arrest in Caracas, I’ve been in Peru where I had to have a 24-hour bodyguard with machine gun, but this was the most dramatic event I’ve ever been involved with.”
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