Category: DN: ATV Today News Archive 2002 – 2019

    Eurovision: After the farce that was the 2008 Eurovision, bosses have decided to revamp the voting system after eleven years of ‘televotes’ by viewers proved to be more about politics than music. The original ‘jury’ format is to be returned, which was ditched in 1998, along with the viewers votes. Svante Stockelius, Eurovision’s executive supervisor, told the BBC: […]

With the news that Jane Tranter, the BBC’s head of Fiction, is leaving her role we take a look at the career of the woman that turned around the fortunes of BBC Drama and made it a force to be reckoned with.   When Jane Tranter took over responsibility for drama at the BBC in 2000 the department wasn’t exactly […]

There’s some more bad news for struggling ITV today as it seems likely the broadcaster will drop of the FTSE 100 index of the leading companies. According to media insiders the broadcaster will drop out of the 100 index unless it can turn around the price of its shares, which has been steadily falling for some considerable time now. Blue […]

With news that actress Roberta Taylor is to hang up her handcuffs and leave The Bill we take a look at the tough, plain-speaking character of Inspector Gina Gold.   Inspector Gold arrived at Sun Hill in the aftermath of the devastating fire of 2002. An explosion had ripped through the Police Station during a race-related riot at the front […]

The actress leads the cast of The Choir Project for BBC One alongside Neil Pearson, Richard Fleeshman and Sarah Alexander. In an unremarkable town in the north of England, the sparky but self-effacing Esther (Sarah Lancashire) sings her heart out in the local choir – a disparate collective whose enthusiasm far outweighs its musical ability, and which is conducted by […]

Property Rights: Ofcom have cleared Channel 4 property series, Location, Location, Location of political bias after presenters Phil Spencer and ex-Tory party advisor Kirstie Allsopp launched a campaign to get stamp duty reformed. In an episode broadcast in June the pair suggested that stamp duty was a contributing factor to the slowdown in the property market and that it should […]

    Money Matters: Dragons’ Den judge and star of ITV’s Tycoon – the flop rip-off of the BBC‘s Apprentice – Peter Jones – says he gets rather annoyed by begging letters from spongers who want cash without working for it. He commented on Teletext: “To really annoy me, ask me for money so you can buy the house of […]

X Facts: If you care – we know we don’t – The Carphone Warehouse is sponsoring the upcoming series of The X-Factor.   Spooky: The Digital Spy forum members are far from ‘happy’ with Spooks Code 9 – although their standards are debatable. Most of them think Tiffany Mitchell was an all-time ‘classic’ soap character – so we can safely […]

Popular and much respected actor Terence Rigby has died at 71, his spokesman has announced.

BBC fined £400,000 over fake phone-ins Media regulator Ofcom has issued a £400,000 fine on the BBC for breaching competition rules on viewer phone-ins. The amount is the biggest ever penalty the watchdog has ever imposed on the on the Beeb. A number of programmes faked winners and mislead entrants to BBC competitions. Shows effected range from the Russell Brand […]