News

Exclusive: Sister has upped its stake in podcast studio Campside Media to a majority shareholding.

The Chernobyl producer’s 2023 company accounts, seen by Deadline, revealed that Jane Featherstone and Liz Murdoch’s transatlantic studio “now has a controlling stake” in Campside and “will continue to support the business in its development of audio content and the exploitation of those rights.” Sister previously had a minority shareholding.

Sister took its minority stake in Campside several years back, soon after Campside launched, at which point it landed one of its most high-profile projects, a pod about the Hollywood con queen. Apple TV+ recently launched a docuseries on the same topic.

Campside has since become well regarded for a series of pods exploring a range of issues, including the Chameleon franchise. Most recently, it struck a first-look with Wondery for a multi-project slate and launched its debut original pod, White Devil, the story...

Exclusive: The delivery of big-budget projects including The Power and Dan Levy movie Good Grief led Sister to double turnover in 2023 to $264M, although profit remained stubbornly in the red.

Jane Featherstone and Liz Murdoch’s company put record revenue down to “the realization of pipeline projects and recovery from the delays to the production schedule of programmes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to the transatlantic outfit’s full-year company accounts, seen by Deadline.

In 2023, Sister launches included Prime Video’s long-gestating The Power adaptation, its first movie Good Grief and BBC thriller series Better. It also took stakes in Richard Bacon’s new outfit Yes Yes Media and Steph Curry’s Unanimous Media.

But while turnover shot up as expected, and is now more than $200M above where it was two years ago, Sister is still failing to turn a profit. It is getting closer, however, with a...

U&Dave has announced an exciting new entertainment show, “Silence is Golden”, hosted by Dermot O’Leary. Created by Richard Bacon, the series will be produced by Yes Yes Media for UKTV, adding to their lineup of comedy entertainment shows. The premise of “Silence is Golden” is simple yet chaotic: at the start of each episode, the […]

Dermot O’Leary to Host Unique Game Show “Silence is Golden” on U&Dave...

Richard Bacon’s Yes Yes Media has landed its debut commission, a game show hosted by Dermot O’Leary in which the audience must remain silent to keep £250,000.

Silence is Golden has been greenlit by British channel group UKTV and will air on the U&Dave channel next year.

At the start of each episode, the network gives the huge prize to the studio audience and all they need to do to keep it is remain silent. With every audience member mic’ed up, all hell breaks loose as a green room of 30 acts, led by three returning comedian captains, headed up by Katherine Ryan, wage war on the audience, with every sound forced out of them bringing the total prize money down.

The series is one of UKTV’s splashiest for some time, with former X Factor host O’Leary a major coup for the network, and it is This...

A raft of high-concept unscripted formats from the likes of Yes Yes Media, Keshet International and Fulwell 73 were informally presented this week at the first edition of the International Creative Alliance Days hosted by Satisfaction Group, the Paris-based outfit founded by entrepreneur and famed TV host Arthur Essebag.

The two-day event brought together creatives and industry players who are either part of Satisfaction or doing business with the company, notably acquisition executives from M6, France Televisions and Amazon Prime Video, among others.

Richard Bacon, whose banner Yes Yes Media welcomed Satisfaction as a shareholder last year; spoke about several music-themed talent shows, including “Who’s in the Band” which he said will “search for the new One Direction or BTS, involving a new way to vote and a new way to audition.” There will be five candidates who will audition at once, all singing the same song at the same time.

Keshet International (“Trust No One”) and France’s Satisfaction Group have signed a multi-territory deal to form a creative alliance in the non-scripted formats space.

Under the pact, both Satisfaction and Keshet International (Ki) will be co-creating IP, as well as teaming up to develop and produce new and existing non-scripted formats through their production labels and hubs in France, Germany, Israel, the U.K. and the U.S.

In practical terms, Ki and Satisfaction will each have a first-look option on all existing and new non-scripted formats from the deal in each of their local territories, including Tresor in Germany, and Keshet 12 in Israel.

The two banners will also share local knowledge and expertise in key markets to secure new commissions. They will leverage their own established talent and IP across top markets, including in the U.S. and the U.K. where both Keshet and Satisfaction have made headway recently.

Exclusive: Richard Bacon’s Yes Yes Media has headed on a senior hiring spree, bringing in former The X Factor showrunner Mark Sidaway and Hidden Light production boss Lydia Arding.

The indie launched six months ago, backed by an eclectic mix including Chernobyl producer Sister, Friends star Courtney Cox, French production house Satisfaction and the lead singer of Snow Patrol. It aims to create TV shows and podcasts and plans to develop proprietary hardware and software to allow viewers to interact with formats on multiple devices.

Sidaway becomes Head of Entertainment and Arding takes on the Director of Production post. Working closely with Bacon, Sidaway will build out the company’s entertainment department, while Arding will oversee all financial and operational activity for the business and drive strategy across the production slate.

Sidaway is a storied unscripted vet who most recently showran The Coronation Concert and the BBC’s Platinum...

After expanding into the U.K., the U.S. and the Netherlands, Paris-based leading unscripted production banner Satisfaction is set to gain ground in Spanish-speaking markets. Satisfaction founder Arthur Essebag, who is also an entrepreneur and famed TV host, has teamed up with Daniel Domenjo, a well-established Spanish producer and host, to create Satisfaction Iberia.

The new company will be developing, adapting and producing mainly unscripted content for Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American markets, and will aim to work with a broad range of international partners.

Domenjo, who previously ran Mediacrest and spearheaded the production of many hit formats in Spain, has been appointed CEO of Satisfaction Iberia. Under his leadership, Mediacrest delivered 15 seasons of “The Chase,” primetime shows like “Mapi”, “The Floor,” “Crónicas del Zoo” and “La Solución,” as well as the series “Asuntos Internos,” which is currently in production.

Earlier this year, Satisfaction ventured into English-language markets with...

Exclusive: Jane Featherstone and Liz Murdoch’s Sister has invested in Stephen Curry’s Unanimous Media.

The Chernobyl and This is Going to Hurt producer took an undisclosed minority stake in Unanimous Media Holdings in June, Deadline understands. Both companies declined to comment on the deal.

NBA legend Curry launched his Unanimous banner with producer Erick Peyton in 2018 and the outfit makes family, faith and sports-based content.

Recent Unanimous credits include high-end Apple TV+ doc Stephen Curry: Underrated with A24 and Proximity, an upcoming narrative film and doc about the All Star Café (with Sports Illustrated Studios and 101 Studios) and ABC competition format Holey Moley. Alongside the recent investment from Sister, the company also has a global talent partnership in place with NBCUniversal for scripted and a first-look development deal with DreamWorks Animation for kids and family content. Deadline revealed the first project to emerge from the former deal,...

Exclusive: Jane Featherstone and Liz Murdoch’s Sister saw revenues skyrocket by $100M last year, although the This is Going to Hurt and Chernobyl producer failed again to turn a profit.

The transatlantic outfit’s turnover grew by a mammoth 273% to $134M for full-year 2022, according to a Companies House filing seen by Deadline, as the outfit shook off the shackles of the Covid-19 pandemic and delivered a number of high-profile projects. The vast majority of the revenue came from TV shows.

Sister’s filing pointed to “the realisation of a pipeline of projects and recovery from the delays to the production schedule of programmes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic” as a driver of revenue growth. Big shows delivered in the year included BAFTA-winning BBC drama This is Going to Hurt, The Split Season 3 and HBO/Sky’s The Baby.

As with last year, Sister failed to turn a profit but...

Mipcom, the Cannes-set international TV showcase, will pay tribute to Arthur Essebag, the well-known French TV host and founder of Satisfaction Group. Essebag will receive the international format awards at a gala ceremony on Oct. 15.

Founded nearly 14 years ago, Satisfaction ranks as a leading purveyor of unscripted programs in its home market with over 1,000 hours of TV content which are produced through labels across 30 territories, including France, Germany, Spain and the U.K.

Satisfaction recently ventured into English-language markets with a stake in Yes Yes Media, the company founded by Richard Bacon alongside Elisabeth Murdoch’s Sister Media. The outfit has also formed a joint venture with Fulwell 73, the U.K.-based production company behind “The Late Late Show With James Corden.”

The event will organize for the first time a summit dedicated to AI with Anshul Kapoor, head of media broadcasting solutions at Google, Benjamin Field, Deep Fusion Films’ executive producer,...

The Late Late Show with James Corden showrunner Ben Winston has revealed how unexpected impacts of the labor strikes cost his production company an unscripted series greenlight.

In a wide-ranging interview with Richard Bacon at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Winston said he believed effects of the actors and writers strike were now filtering into unscripted commissioning. This was because studios and streamers are unsure of their overall budgets until new deals are struck with actors and writers unions, meaning spending on original series of any genre is an added risk.

“We were named as a company that would do well during the strikes because we’re known for unscripted, but it hasn’t been the case in any way,” said Winston, who runs UK-u.S. producer Fulwell73 with partners including The Late, Late Show presenter and actor James Corden.

“We had a big show with a big streamer. It was greenlit and done,...

Talent, relationships, and independence are the pillars Jane Featherstone is (again) betting her business on.

The veteran U.K. producer, and former CEO of Kudos, whose long list of credits include such groundbreaking, and global, shows as Broadchurch, Life on Mars, Spooks, Utopia, and Chernobyl, gave the keynote address at the MIPTV 2023, where she outlined the philosophy behind Sister Pictures, the company she runs with executive chair Elisabeth Murdoch and CEO Stacey Snider.

“When I set up Sister in 2015, it was about content and talent,” said Featherstone. “For me, that drives everything we do. It’s about working with the creatives we get to work with, and how we tell stories with people that innovate and break new ground. [It’s] always about the people. Everything in our business is about people and relationships.”

She noted that it was good to be back in person at MIPTV, “breaking bread with people and...

One of France’s most beloved and long-running TV hosts, Arthur Essebag, is preparing to take his leading unscripted production banner Satisfaction into English-language markets with top partners, ranging from James Corden, Leo Pearlman, Ben Winston, Benjamin, Gabriel Turner, Richard Bacon to Elisabeth Murdoch.

A few days after announcing its stake in Yes Yes Media, the buzzed-about company founded by Richard Bacon alongside Elisabeth Murdoch’s Sister Media, Satisfaction has formed a joint venture with Fulwell 73, the U.K.-based production company behind “The Late Late Show With James Corden.” The London-based outfit was founded in 2005 by Winston, Pearlman and Benjamin and Gabriel Turner. Corden was appointed a director in the company in 2017. Although the banner is headquartered in the U.K., as much as 70% of its turnover in 2020 came from the U.S. where Winston has produced the Grammy Awards, among other shows.

The joint venture between Satisfaction...

When former HBO executive Kary Antholis convinced veteran British producer Jane Featherstone to board a project about the Chernobyl disaster, the prospect of such an undertaking was far from a “slam dunk.”

“It had to be pushed over the line,” says Featherstone, “and that was with everybody supporting it.” But in the end, the historical drama from “The Last of Us” showrunner Craig Mazin was, as the producer puts it, a “lucky, lucky call” — and one that richly paid off.

The 2019 HBO and Sky miniseries about the 1986 nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine starring Jared Harris and Emily Watson won multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Awards, and put Featherstone’s new venture, Sister Pictures, on the map.

Few in Britain were surprised when, later that year, the production company expanded into a global studio simply titled Sister. Featherstone, who spent the previous 16 years with the Kudos production banner, partnered with Shine Group...

Sister, the media group and production company co-founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone and Stacey Snider, has taken a significant stake in newly launched TV and tech entertainment company Yes Yes Media, founded by British broadcaster and format developer Richard Bacon.

As well as creating new unscripted formats, Yes Yes Media is developing proprietary hardware and software to enable viewers to interact with these formats across multiple devices. To lead this development, Yes Yes Media has hired California-based tech entrepreneurs Geoff Abbott and Reed Seerman.

The size of the stake and other terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

“We’re now truly in the TikTok era, but traditional television entertainment hasn’t fully tapped into that in a way that feels native,” said Bacon, best known in the U.K. for hosting a number of TV and radio shows. “I see all screens as television now. At Yes Yes...

Friends star Courteney Cox and UK producer Sister are investing in a new production venture from British TV producer Richard Bacon.

Bacon has launched Yes Yes Media, which will have bases in London and LA and focus on non-scripted and has a host of high-profile investors. Joining Cox and Sister in backing the venture are Snow Patrol star Johnny McDaid, 17-time Grammy nominee Savan Kotecha and French production house Satisfaction.

Sister, the producer behind Chernobyl and Giri/Haji, has taken a “significant stake” in the business. Yes Yes will tap into Sister’s investments in television, film, podcasting, publishing and live events to secure work.

Satisfaction will also have a “significant” stake in the business and has signed an agreement with Bacon to co-develop formats for local and global buyers.

Bacon, known for presenting British kids TV magazine show Blue Peter, also plans to develop proprietary hardware and software to...

Sister, the media group co-founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone and Stacey Snider, has unveiled a creative partnership with and taken a significant stake in new TV and tech entertainment company Yes Yes Media.

Yes Yes, an unscripted entertainment venture, is founded by broadcaster and format developer Richard Bacon, who has presented “The Big Breakfast” and “Top of the Pops” and created formats “The Hustler,” hosted by Craig Ferguson (ABC), “This Is My House” (BBC1) and “I Literally Just Told You,” hosted by Jimmy Carr (Channel 4).

The deal allows Yes Yes to leverage access to the Sister’s global network of creative companies and investments spanning television and film, podcasting, publishing and live events.

As well as creating new unscripted formats, Yes Yes Media is developing proprietary hardware and software to enable viewers to interact with these formats across multiple devices. To lead this development, Yes Yes has hired...

Discovery Italy To Adapt BBC Studios Formats ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’ And This Is My House’

Discovery in Italy has commissioned local-language versions of The Great British Sewing Bee and This is My House after striking deals with distributor BBC Studios. Reality competition show The Great British Sewing Bee, originally from Love Productions, will be known as Tailor Made – Chi Ha La Stoffa?, with local producer Blu Yazmine producing ahead of a June debut on streamer Discovery+. A linear debut will follow on Real Time. This is My House, in which celebrities guess whose home they are seeing, was created by Richard Bacon and Nick Weidenfeld and made by producer Expectation for BBC1, will be renamed Questa è Casa Mia and aired on Real Time next month.

Irvine Welsh’s Itvx Drama ‘Crime’ Sells Globally

A host of broadcasters have bought Britbox/Itvx’s Irvine Welsh-created police drama Crime.

BBC Studios’ BAFTA nominated amateur sewing competition format “The Great Sewing Bee” from Love Productions and “This is My House,” the guessing game from Expectation, will be adapted for Discovery in Italy.

The six-part Italian version of “The Great Sewing Bee,” is produced locally by Blu Yazmine and will stream air on Discovery June in June, followed by Real Time in the fall. Known locally as “Tailor Made – Chi ha la stoffa?,” the competition hosted by Tommaso Zorzi follows a group of competitors who will race against the clock in three sewing challenges each week in a bid to be crowned the country’s best amateur sewer.

Created by Richard Bacon and Nick Weidenfeld and produced by Expectation for BBC One, “This is My House” invites four contestants each week to convince a panel of celebrity judges and the audience at home that the house is indeed theirs. Only one...

Exclusive: Channel 4 has commissioned a second season of Richard Bacon’s Jimmy Carr-hosted quiz show I Literally Just Told You.

The second season’s run has been increased to eight episodes including two celebrity specials.

Produced by The Big Narstie Show indie Expectation, I Literally Just Told You from British formats creator Bacon sees four contestants given the opportunity to compete for a cash prize of £25,000 by answering questions that have been written live as the show is being filmed. The questions can be about absolutely anything that happens during the show, from a celebrity cameo to an off-the-cuff joke, or even something one of the contestants has shared about themselves.

The format increased Channel 4’s rating of 16-34-year-old viewers by 34% on average volume and 54% on slot average, according to the Gogglebox broadcaster.

I Literally Just Told You is the third recommission of a Bacon original in the past year,...

Former Objective MD Joins King of Sunshine

Exclusive: Paul Sandler, a former MD of Peep Show and The Cube producer Objective Media Group, has joined the entertainment indie run by former BBC commissioner Sohail Shah. Sandler joins King of Sunshine Productions as a Non-Exec Director and will help run the outfit, which has produced ITV’s Agatha & Poirot: Partners in Crime and Britain’s Favourite Detective, while recently picking up the rights to Sharna Jackson kids novel High-Rise Mystery. Sandler became Objective Productions (now Objective Media Group) MD in 2005 shortly before the outfit was acquired by All3Media and held the role for 10 years, overseeing a period of growth with shows such as hit Channel 4 cult comedy Peep Show, Derren Brown and ITV gameshow format The Cube. In 2015, he became COO of three ITV Studios-backed labels under the Cats on the Roof banner, labels that are now being wound...

Format

BBC One’s hit primetime gameshow “This is My House” has been renewed for an extended run of ten episodes in a 30-minute format.

The guessing game format created by Richard Bacon and U.S.-based TV producer Nick Weidenfeld will once again see four people all claim to be the same person and that “This Is My House.” A panel of celebrities will attempt to tell which “homeowner” is telling the truth and which are the actors.

The first season performed particularly well among younger audiences and was a rage on social media, the BBC said.

“I loved seeing the way the audience responded to the show. Especially on social media as it was happening,” Bacon said. “It’s given me the confidence to lean right into the absurd humor this time. Also, I’m proud of the fact it did so well with young audiences.”

Season 2 will...

BBC One game show This Is My House has been given a second season run of ten episodes in an evolved 30-minute format.

The show sees four people all claim to be the same person and that the house in question is their house. A panel of celebrities is then tasked with sussing out which of them is telling the truth.

This Is My House was created by Richard Bacon and Nick Weidenfeld, and produced by Expectation. BBC Studios handles international licensing.

Bacon told Deadline that he is in discussions with a number of potential U.S. homes for the format. “In the U.S. the range of homes over 50 States coupled with the fact Americans are the best liars will make it a great fit,” he added.

Season one averaged 2.8 million viewers. It was presented by Stacey Dooley, who will not be returning for season two due to the new format,...

E! has ordered a four-part series that brings some of the most celebrated TV casts back together on a roadtrip.

The casts of All My Children, Scrubs, A Different World and Queer Eye For The Straight Guy are getting back together for Reunion Road Trip to reminisce and share surprising revelations about their shows. The series launches on June 10.

It is the latest U.S. order for Studio Lambert, the All3Media-backed producer behind series such as Netflix’s The Circle and CBS’ Undercover Boss.

The company’s U.S. division is led by EVP, Development and Current Jack Burgess.

Burgess and Studio Lambert have had a busy year, despite the pandemic. Right at the start of the pandemic, they scored an order for Celebrity Watch Party from Fox. The show, which is based on the company’s hit UK format Gogglebox, premiered on May 7 and was turned around in 21 days.

The unscripted TV business has never been as glamorous as the movie business or the premium scripted world, but the past 12 months of the pandemic have highlighted how important the sector is to the entertainment world.

Shows like The Voice, The Masked Singer and The Bachelor franchise have propped up the broadcast networks during a rotten year, and Disney and Fox have launched their own alternative units to double down in the genre.

There’s a growing hunt for talent, both working with A-list stars that have overall deals on the scripted side, and new voices that can help find the next Dancing With the Stars or American Idol, while all of the major suppliers are continuing to search for international formats that can become the next big hit.

Mike Darnell, President, Warner Bros. Unscripted and Alternative Television, said that the unscripted world has done an “exceptional job” during Covid...

ABC has unveiled its summer unscripted schedule and it looks like things are back to normal after last year’s Covid interruption.

The Disney-owned network has renewed gameshows including The Chase and The Hustler and has confirmed that Bachelor in Paradise will return this summer after missing out in 2020.

The network’s slate of classic gameshow reboots such as Celebrity Family Feud, To Tell the Truth, Press Your Luck, The $100,000 Pyramid and Card Sharks are also back alongside new shows The Celebrity Dating Game, hosted by Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton, and The Ultimate Surfer.

The Bachelorette, which ABC revealed recently will have two iterations, this year, is also set on the schedule for June with Katie Thurston kicking off proceedings.

Rob Mills, EVP, Unscripted and Alternative Entertainment, Walt Disney Television, told Deadline that he was thrilled to be able to get so many shows on this summer. “The year before the pandemic,...

Exclusive: Richard Bacon is used to reinventing himself. The British presenter was notoriously booted off iconic BBC kids show Blue Peter after being caught binging cocaine, but survived the ignominy to become a near-ubiquitous presence on UK television and radio. By 2016, Bacon relocated to America to host Nat Geo’s Explorer series and later, Fox syndicated talkshow Top 30. But it’s his latest career twist that is perhaps the most remarkable: Bacon has transformed himself from the man in front of the camera, to the one creating the content — and he already has a Universal Television Alternative Studios overall deal and three series to show for his efforts.

The Brit traces this change of direction back to personal trauma in 2018, when he was struck down with suspected pneumonia on a flight from the U.S. to Britain and was placed in a medically-induced coma. He said at the time that...

Universal Television Alternative Studios, the division responsible for shows including The Wall and World of Dance, has become part of the Pearlena Igbokwe-run Universal Studio Group.

The move, which becomes official today, follows the departure of Meredith Ahr, who was President of NBC Entertainment’s Alternative and Reality Group, and who oversaw the non-scripted studio.

It means that Utas, which is run by President Toby Gorman, now joins sister studios including Universal Television, Ucp and NBCUniversal International Studios under the Universal Studio Group umbrella.

It comes a month after Igbokwe was promoted to Chairman of Universal Studio Group, which was formerly known as NBCUniversal Content Studios last month, succeeding Bonnie Hammer, who is taking on a new role as Vice Chairman, NBCUniversal

Gorman, who joins the Usg leadership team, will continue to oversee development, domestic sales strategy and creative affairs, while collaborating closely across all areas of production, casting,...

Exclusive: British TV and radio host Richard Bacon is continuing his segue into production with an overall deal with Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal Television.

Bacon will develop and produce non-scripted shows for the World of Dance and The Wall studio. He is already in development with a couple of projects with the company.

This comes after he created The Hustler, a mystery-based gameshow that was handed a series order by ABC last year. The show, which is hosted by Craig Ferguson, is produced by All3Media’s Studio Lambert, the company behind Undercover Boss and The Circle.

Bacon is a well-known figure in the UK, where he used to host BBC kids’ series Blue Peter as well as The Big Breakfast and presented on BBC radio.

In the States, he previously hosted Nat Geo’s Explorer series, where he hiked with President Barack Obama through Yosemite National Park, and Fox syndicated talkshow Top 30,...

A major new 9/11 documentary series, a reboot of Explorer and a travelogue from American Idol’s Bobby Bones lead Nat Geo’s latest slate as the factual giant forges ahead with its 2020/21 schedule.

The Disney-owned broadcaster revealed a number of new titles, a slew of feature doc additions and the renewal of Gordon Ramsay: Unchartered.

It has also set a tentative fall plan for its Genius: Aretha, the Cynthia Erivo-fronted drama that was delayed due to the Covid-19 production shutdown.

9/11 comes from Undefeated and La 92 filmmakers Dan Lindsay and T.J Martin, who have teamed up with British production company 72 Films on the six-part series. The series, which is planned to mark 20 years since the terrorist attacks, has already been in production for overs two years, featuring never-seen-before archival footage and new eyewitness witnesses of the event.

Nat Geo is working closely with its new sister companies ABC News...

Emmy award-winning Producer, guest speaker, and host of the Amazing Race, Phil Keoghan is the shiny new “get” for National Geographic Explorer. It’s easy to see why. When you meet Keoghan, his vitality immediately fills the space. These qualities were not lost on the National Geographic Channel, who nabbed the Amazing Race host as one of their star journalists to put in the field for the long-running series. Explorer had ended in 2011 and then was restarted again under the production guidance of Nat Geo’s Tim Pastore and was hosted by British journalist Richard Bacon, whom Keoghan is now replacing. […]

The post Exclusive: Nat Geo Explorer’s host Phil Keoghan on a life well traveled and new season appeared first on Monsters and Critics.

Lord of the Rings’ Andy Serkis and Veep creator Armando Iannucci and director Chris Addison are among the hundreds of thousands of protestors at an anti-Brexit march in London today.

The pair have been joined by the likes of Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden and TV chef Delia Chef at the event in the British capital, with a series of speeches being compered by Richard Bacon, host of Nat Geo’s Explorer, and Mariella Frostrup.

The police have not released official figures, but estimates range from around 250,000 to 500,000, the latter being put out by organizers the People’s Vote campaign.

The protest, which include a number of politicians from both the Labour and Conservative parties, is designed to call for a second referendum following Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 2019 following the vote in June 2016.

Serkis, who...

Richard Bacon, the British TV presenter who has hosted Nat Geo’s Explorer series and Fox syndicated talkshow Top 30, has come out of a medically induced coma.

The television and radio presenter has spent the past week in a coma after becoming critically ill with suspected pneumonia on a flight from the U.S. to Britain.

However, his mother Christine said that he now is now “getting better” after opening his eyes.

“As many people know, my son Richard Bacon has been in a medically induced coma in intensive care for a week but he’s young, he’s fit and the NHS have been brilliant, and I’m sure he’ll come through this. Been very worrying. We’ve received so many lovely messages,” she tweeted.

“There’s a long way to go yet, but this is a very positive step and it has eased my mind,” she told local newspaper the Mansfield Chad.

Royal wedding mania has kicked off, as guests have started to arrive in Windsor for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding. There’s round-the-clock coverage in the UK and Europe, and even the French networks are covering the event.

The BBC, ITV, and Sky are all covering the event all morning, while the ceremony is set to kick off at 12pm GMT. Football fans will be pleased to hear that it will be finished before the Fa Cup Final, the soccer tournament that is the UK’s answer to the Superbowl.

Click here for Deadline’s full photo gallery of all of the stars arriving.

George Clooney and his wife Amal have just arrived, while The Wire star Idris Elba and his fiancee Sabrina Dhowre are joined alongside Oprah and David and Victoria Beckham.

Markle’s Suits co-stars, including Gabriel Macht and Patrick Adams, have also arrived, having spent...

Move over Richard Bacon, there is a new explorer in town. Phil Keoghan is stepping in as the new host of National Geographic’s long-running series “Explorer” when it returns this fall, the cable network announced Saturday. “Phil embodies what it means to be a National Geographic Explorer — he’s undoubtedly interested and curious about investigating the relationship between the Earth and human life,” said Tim Pastore, president of original programming and production during the network’s Television Critics Association panel. “‘Explorer’ is a show about informing and entertaining, and we’re confident that with Phil as host, he will be the catalyst...

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Yes, it’s annoying when the UK weather is rubbish, but is it really grounds to lodge a complaint with the BBC?

Imagine you’ve been wronged by a TV show. Some inaccuracy, or omission, or annoyance has caused the irksome weevil of discontent to crawl through your television and burrow underneath your skin. You can’t rid of it. After days of muttering under your breath and scribbling beards and fangs all over the Radio Times, it’s still there. Nothing will soothe you. You're left with only one choice.

It’s time to lodge a complaint.

If that complaint relates to anything other than Editorial Standards, it may be passed up to the BBC Trust’s Complaints and Appeals Board (Cab), the final arbiter on general grievances since 2011. And thanks to BBC transparency, such complaints are available, anonymously, to see online.

A trawl through the...

The likes of Matt Le Tissier and Fatima Whitbread will battle it out for Eternal Glory in ITV's new series.

Eight sporting stars will face off against each other in a series of challenges for the new show, which begins next month.

James Cracknell, Jade Johnson, Liz McColgan, Shane Williams, Gail Emms and Christian Malcolm will also compete on Eternal Glory.

Richard Bacon hosts the series, with sports scientist and Olympian Professor Greg Whyte providing expert analysis.

The sporting greats will have their mental and physical strength, agility, strategy and skill tested over the course of six one-hour episodes.

Each show will conclude with a 'night duel' in which the two lowest scoring athletes go head-to-head to decide who stays in the competition. One athlete will leave at the end of each show until the champion of the series is crowned.

Le Tissier said: "It's been 13 years since I retired...

ITV is planning its own sports game show, with Richard Bacon at the helm.

The presenter will test sporting stars' endurance and skill in a round of challenges with new series Eternal Glory, set in Croatia.

Eight sporting legends will have their mental and physical strength, agility, strategy and skill tested over the course of six one-hour episodes, which will be produced by Twofour.

The bottom two athletes from each show will face a 'night duel' game, with the loser losing their place in the competition.

The Eternal Glory format has proven successful in Europe. Six series of the show were commissioned in Norway, while Sweden enjoyed seven series of the programme.

ITV's commissioning editor for entertainment Kate Maddigan said: "We have seen sports stars succeed in dancing, the jungle, cooking and the ice but I can't wait to see them take on each other in these specially created challenges.

American Idol was announced to be coming to an end after 15 seasons yesterday (May 12), but did you know that Ryan Seacrest used to have a co-host?

Brian Dunkleman hosted the Fox competition's first season alongside Ryan Seacrest, before the latter took sole control. History has not been kind to poor old Brian since, with Fox TV CEO Dana Walden joking about a possible reunion for the pair.

"Where is Brian Dunkleman? If you give me his number, I will call and invite him," she joked, though Dunkleman gave as good as he got last night:

I knew American Idol would never last without me #Cancelled

— brian dunkleman (@briandunkleman) May 11, 2015

To honour Dunkleman, we have collected a few hosts of massive shows that you may have cruelly forgotten, starting with the man himself.

1. Brian Dunkleman (American Idol)

The comedian co-hosted the Fox series with Ryan Seacrest for its first season, which...

Tess Daly and Rochelle Humes will host a new show about motherhood for AOL UK.

Being Mum will see the duo meeting either a celebrity or a mother with a surprising story to discuss what being a mum is really like.

"Both Tess and I are really excited to present Being Mum," Humes said. "As busy mothers ourselves, we understand what it takes to be a mum whilst balancing successful careers, friendships and relationships.

"And in our series, we'll go behind the scenes with a range of incredible mothers, with some faces you know and some you won't, but all with amazing stories to tell about being a modern day mother."

Daly added: "Being a mum is for me without doubt the most rewarding role there is, but of course it isn't without its challenges. Many of us are constantly juggling to achieve that perfect life-work balance and personally I...

Victoria Derbyshire is to host a new daily show on the BBC News Channel.

The broadcaster is leaving BBC Radio 5 Live in the autumn, along with other presenters including Shelagh Fogarty and Richard Bacon.

Her programme will feature "exclusive interviews, agenda-setting discussion and audience debates".

"This is the TV programme I've always wanted to make," said Derbyshire. "It will include the kind of broadcasting I love doing - original journalism, stories that affect the lives of our audience, exclusive interviews, viewer debates and big breaking news."

The show will be available to watch online, on mobiles and on tablets.

"It's been a privilege to be able to build up such a strong relationship with the 5 Live listeners over the last 16 years and I hope to be able to do the same with audiences in our new venture," she added

James Harding, the director of BBC news and current affairs, said:...

Una Stubbs and Richard Bacon will lead the search for Britain's best amateur painter in a new BBC One series.

The Big Picture will see ten amateur artists battling it out for the crown in a series of challenges - with their work being hosted at a special display in Tate Britain after the series has aired.

The Great British Bog Off: Is it time to stop Bake Off ripoffs?

Each of the show's six episodes will come from a different location in the UK, with the contestants facing different painting and drawing challenges such as still life, portraits and landscapes.

The hopefuls will also have to prove their mettle in different mediums including chalks, pencils, watercolours, oils, acrylics and charcoal.

Bacon and Stubbs will be joined by judges Daphne Todd OBE and Lachlan Goudie, who are both established and experienced artists.

Stubbs described The Big Picture as "such an...

Tom Hollander has announced that Rev is unlikely to return in the near future.

The third series of the BBC Two sitcom will draw to a close on Monday (April 28).

Speaking with BBC Radio 5 live's Richard Bacon, Holland admitted that he is unsure about the prospect of a fourth run any time soon.

"I really don't know - at the moment, we all want to just pause," he explained. "It's such a special thing, Rev. It's been so magical in terms of how much people take it to their hearts.

"So the idea of not doing it anymore is sad but also quite attractive because you wouldn't want for it to ever get worse."

However, Hollander did not rule out the possibility of a spinoff film, admitting that a Rev movie is "something people talk about".

"I think we need to find a story to justify 90 minutes," he added.

Rev...

Martin Freeman has revealed that he is glad The Office has not returned since it ended in 2003.

The Sherlock actor - who played Tim Canterbury in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's BBC sitcom - said that he would worry it would be "ruined" if they made a new series.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Richard Bacon: "I'm very proud of The Office, if it's on I still watch it and will laugh. But one of the best things Ricky and Steve did was ending it and making it finite and making it something people look back and go, 'I wish there was more of that', as opposed to doing loads and people saying, 'I wish there was less of this'."

He continued: "I'm glad not to be doing The Office any more, not for any career reason or any selfish reason, but as a punter, just as a viewer.

Sebastian Coe beat John Bishop in their rhythmic gymnastics challenge for Sport Relief tonight (March 21).

The pair went head-to-head in the 'Clash of the Titans' task throughout this evening's live charity telethon. They each captained two teams and performed routines in front of an audience at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Team Coe won in women's pursuit cycling and rhythmic gymnastics, and Team Bishop were victorious at men's elimination race and synchronised swimming.

The teams went into the final event, swimming relay, with just one point separating them and Team Coe trailing behind. But it was Coe's group who earned the gold.

Coe said: "We've done this for an extraordinary effort tonight and I hope there are millions of young people who will benefit from everything that has been achieved. I think it was all down to my ribbons."

BBC Radio 1 presenter Greg James, popstar Olly Murs, comedy actress Sally Phillips,...

The BBC's Director of Television Danny Cohen has said that he "can't guarantee" the future of BBC Four.

Cohen was speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Richard Bacon about Director General Tony Hall's plans to move BBC Three online in autumn 2015.

17 reasons we should save BBC Three from the axe

BBC Three is an easy target: Why its move online makes me angry

When asked if BBC Four may face a similar fate in the future, he said: "The reason we've made this decision for BBC Three is because we face financial cuts, the like of which the BBC has not been able to cope with before."

He explained that he would have preferred to delay BBC Three's move to a much later date.

"In an ideal world we wouldn't be taking BBC Three online in 18 months' time. We'd probably do it in three or four years' time.

BBC Three has always been an easy target. Right from its inception, the channel came in for criticism - whether it was people turning their noses up at Snog, Marry, Avoid or middle class, middle-aged mutters about where the licence fee was going.

So when the news broke today that BBC Three is being axed as a regular, broadcast channel - and moving solely online - I wasn't surprised. Sure, the station has produced high quality drama, comedy and entertainment. Sure, it picks up higher ratings than some of the other BBC brands. Sure, it's pretty much the only BBC channel aimed at young people. But, well, it's always been an easy target.

I have sympathy for the BBC. They've been stuck between a rock and a hard place in recent years, as the recession bit and funding was squeezed. With a coalition government that's never been too warm towards...

Channel 4's Benefits Britain live debate attracted 2.78 million (11.8%) on Monday, according to overnight data.

Richard Bacon's live show at 9pm brought in a further 468,000 (2.8%) viewers on +1, while the Benefits Street follow-up programme Last Word was seen by 2.52m (10.4%) at 8.30pm (374k/1.6% on +1).

The return of Jimmy Carr's 8 Out of 10 Cats amused 1.26m (7.2%) at 10pm (213k/2.3%).

ITV's Dci Banks remained on top overall, dipping by around 80k to 5.61m (23.9%) at 9pm (233k/1.4%). A Great Welsh Adventure interested 3.35m (13.9%) at 8pm (110k/0.5%).

On BBC One, a Panorama flood special appealed to 2.82m (11.7%) at 8.30pm, followed by the final Britain's Great War with 3.02m (12.9%) at 9pm.

BBC Two's Winter Olympics coverage continued with 2.54m (11.3%) at 7pm. University Challenge quizzed 3.46m (14.3%) at 8pm, followed by Food and Drink with 1.92m (8.0%) at 8.30pm and Horizon with 1.13m (4.8%) at 9pm.

Channel 5's Big British Immigration Row intrigued 850k (3.6%) at 8pm, while Can't Stop,...

Richard Bacon has become a father again. The radio host took to Twitter today (11.02.14) to announce that his wife Rebecca McFarlane gave birth to their daughter Ivy, their second child, last Thursday (06.02.14). The 38-year-old presenter posted a picture of the newborn, accompanied with the caption: ''This is Ivy. She is mine. (Born on Thursday but I forgot to tell anyone). (sic)'' After sharing the news with his surprised fans, Richard was bombarded with congratulatory messages from his supporters and fellow celebrity pals. Kirstie Allsopp - best known for her presenting role on 'Location, Location, Location' - said: ''Wow! She's adorable, tons of congratulations to...