Deadline (1995 TV series)

Last updated

Deadline
Genre Documentary
Directed by
  • Bernard Hall
  • Leanne Pooley
Composers
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6 [1]
Production
Executive producers
  • Brian Hill
  • Ruth Pitt
EditorStuart Briggs
Running time
  • 1x50 mins
  • 5x25mins
Production companyReal Life Productions
Original release
Network Channel 4
Release20 March (1995-03-20) 
1 May 1995 (1995-05-01)

Deadline is a British fly-on-the-wall documentary series following the journalists at Yorkshire Television's local news service, Calendar . It was broadcast as a series of six episodes on Channel 4 from 20 March to 1 May 1995 as part of its Whose News? season. [2]

Contents

Production

Yorkshire Television agreed to allow access to Channel 4's fly-on-the-wall documentary series following ITN's refusal to take part in the project. [3] Most of the Calendar team took part in the documentary rather than be accused of hypocrisy; Christa Ackroyd says, "how could I, a TV journalist whose job it is to persuade others to appear on camera, refuse to take part when the tables were turned?". [3]

The documentary crew spent three months following the newsgatherers at Yorkshire TV. [4] Some material was removed from the broadcast version. Journalist Alan Hardwick was captured making some, what The Guardian's media editor labels "fairly abusive", remarks about criminals. [3] Ackroyd reports that some people refused to sign release forms, and 'no filming' areas were established. [3]

Yorkshire TV were unhappy at the documentary's press release, which began: "Coming up in just a moment, the biggest petunia in the world – and the man whose grown it. But first, the Bradford murder." Channel 4 thought that the sentence reflected Calendar's diverse content, but Yorkshire were concerned that it made them look silly. The press was requested not to use the offending words. [3]

Episodes

The first episode focussed upon the media coverage of the disappearance of schoolgirl Lindsay Rimer in November 1994, [2] whose body was recovered shortly after the episode was broadcast. [5] This first episode also covered more trivial stories, such as the launch of a new cheese, and a live interview with Coronation Street actress Lynne Perrie, who was promoting her autobiography. [2]

Reception

Tom Sutcliffe, in The Independent , expressed concern over the length of the series, suggesting that it might become "too much of a good thing" and the focus upon a regional news service ("a little local runabout", writes Sutcliffe) rather than "the great national juggernauts". [2] Much of Sutcliffe's criticisms were about the journalistic practices and integrity of the Calendar team; he questions its staging of police briefings, and the decision to devote airtime to the launch of a cheese. [2]

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References

  1. "Television: Monday". The Observer. 19 March 1995. p. 98.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Sutcliffe, Thomas (21 March 1995). "REVIEW : Drop the dead donkey, we'll run with the cheese". The Independent.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Brooks, Richard (20 March 1995). "Focus on the newshounds". The Guardian. p. 14.
  4. Episode 1, Deadline, 20 March 1995, Channel 4
  5. Rimer, Geri (4 November 2006). "I don't know what happened to my daughter". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 13 September 2010.