• Downton Abbey drama du jour

    Downton Abbey drama du jour

    With Downton Abbey currently in production on series 3, the Daily Mail headline reads “Drama at Downton Abbey as Dame Maggie Smith looks set to quit the show“. The text reads like a soap opera as it is being ‘reported’ that the Dowager Countess has ‘panicked the bosses’ by not signing a new contract. It’s as […]

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  • BBC has high hopes for Call the Midwife

    BBC has high hopes for Call the Midwife

    One of the hits of our recent trek to Liverpool for the 2012 BBC Showcase was the opportunity to screen the hit new kid on the BBC drama block, Call the Midwife. The series, which follows a group of midwives working in London’s East End in the 1950s and stars the likes of Jenny Agutter, […]

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  • Selfridges next up for Downton Abbey producer

    Selfridges next up for Downton Abbey producer

    While we’ve been tracking what Downton Abbey writer, Julian Fellowes, is up to next, one can’t help but wonder what’s inside ITV1’s bag of tricks that will, hopefully, build upon the success of the series that has taken the world by storm? Easy. A simple 10-part drama profiling the place that, in 2010, won the […]

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  • Downton Abbey 3 – a first look

    Downton Abbey 3 – a first look

    As we close down another BBC Showcase, time to take a quick look back at our time in Liverpool. With over 2500 hours of comedy, drama, natural history and documentary from the BBC catalogue available to view, just over 40 hours of screening were logged over the past 4 days looking for that hidden gem […]

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  • BBC Showcase – comedy, comedy, comedy in 2012

    BBC Showcase – comedy, comedy, comedy in 2012

    One thing was quite clear after day two in Liverpool at the 2012 BBC Showcase. While it’s been an exceedingly good year for the BBC with regards to drama with the premiere of Call the Midwife, the return of Whitechapel, the continuation of Upstairs Downstairs and the brilliant end to Spooks (MI5), it’s clear that […]

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  • BBC Showcase – Day one: Drama

    BBC Showcase – Day one: Drama

    It’s now down to business at the 2012 BBC Showcase and the opportunity to screen the best of the best when it comes to telly from the BBC. As we make the grueling 50 yard trek over bitter terrain from the hotel lobby to the screening booths for the 2012 BBC Showcase, it’s immediately clear […]

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  • Beatles, comedy, drama and more – BBC Showcase – day one

    Beatles, comedy, drama and more – BBC Showcase – day one

    Any pre-conceived impressions of Liverpool that I had prior to arriving yesterday at Liverpool Lime Street train station were completely blown away today by spending a bit of time talking to residents of all ages about their city. I have never met a collective group of people that are more proud of their city than […]

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  • Bit and Bobs from BBC Showcase – Liverpool

    Bit and Bobs from BBC Showcase – Liverpool

    As you slept away the night last night, Tellyspotting landed in Liverpool content to begin working very hard on your behalf, finding the best of British telly for broadcast on public television in the States for the coming year. After a quick 9-hour flight to London followed by a 2.5 hour train journey to Liverpool, […]

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  • Rod Stewart's 1971 tribute to the Dowager Countess

    Rod Stewart's 1971 tribute to the Dowager Countess

    It’s that time again for the annual BBC Showcase where myself and about 600 of my closest friends around the globe get the opportunity to screen what that Beeb has in store for the worldwide television landscape in the next couple of years. After 20 years, we leave the lovely (at this time of the […]

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  • As the sun sets on Downton Abbey, take a brief peak into series 3

    As the sun sets on Downton Abbey, take a brief peak into series 3

    Aside from the massive anticipation of the first Maggie Smith/Shirley MacLaine battle of the mothers-in-law, the internet is already abuzz with thoughts on series 3 of Downton Abbey. While the U.S. is only 3 days removed from Sundays series 2 finale, Julian Fellowes sat down with The New York Times to reflect back on the […]

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