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Above: Anishka Sharma, Producer of the Year

The 2023 Audio Production Awards, sponsored by Audible, were held at a gala event on Wednesday 22 November at the BFI on London’s South Bank. Nish Kumar & Coco Khan, presenters of weekly British political comedy podcast, Pod Save the UK, were this year’s hosts.

The APAs, organised by AudioUK, celebrate outstanding achievement in audio production across a huge range of audio content including; podcasts, audiobooks, sound design, radio, presenting and more.

This year’s winners include Jack Suddaby (Beautiful Strangers), who won gold for Best Arts & Culture Producer, silver for Best Lifestyle & Society Producer, and three bronze awards for his podcast Time & Again. The highly competitive Best Factual Producer award went to Joe Kent (BBC News Long Form Audio) for his work on the narrative podcast The Shamima Begum Story.

The Sustainability Award went to Talia Randall for her BBC Sounds podcast, Blossom Trees & Burnt Out Cars,...

Idris Elba in Luther: The Fallen Sun Image: Netflix Dci John Luther (Idris Elba) is back and once again he’s pursuing a criminal mastermind while going rogue. Fans of the BBC series, which ran for four seasons between 2010 and 2019, are in for more of what they like in Netflix’s film continuation,...

German sellers returning to Cannes’s Mipcom TV mart will be packing a wide selection of domestic and international TV fare heavy on high-end crime and historical series.

With a market that has become increasingly open to different formats, sales companies see good opportunities for diverse offerings.

“Crime is still the most in- demand genre in the market, as well as action,” says Julia Weber, head of international sales and acquisitions at Munich-based Global Screen. “But whatever genre you look at, the main driver remains the story. It needs to be compelling and speak to the audience.”

Weber adds that more and more historical dramas are also being produced, underscoring “an increasing need for series that are rather escapist and that cater to audiences in the post-lockdown world.”

Global Screen’s six-part “The Palace” is a prime example, she adds. Produced by Constantin Television for Zdf and directed by Uli Edel,...

Charlie Nagatani is a legend. Not just in Japan but also in the US, since, through his 60+ career in country music , he has gained honorary citizenship in 33 U.S. states, met two American presidents, been recognized as an official Kentucky Colonel, won awards and medals from various peace and cultural societies and, perhaps the most prestigious item on the list for a country star, earned membership as a performer at the Grand Ole Opry, the iconic heart of country music located in Nashville, Tennessee (source: Japan Times). Furthermore, Good Time Charlie, his bar in Kumamoto, has been providing a portal to rural America for decades for the fans of his and his band, Charlie and the Cannonballs, while being one of the main sources of income for him and his family. “Far Western” explores his life, history and current situation, along with a number of other Japanese country and bluegrass musicians,...

Cannes – Germany’s Zdf Enterprises and Japan’s Fuji TV have picked their team for soccer drama “The Window.”

Mel Raido (“Deep State”), Tommy Bastow (“Agatha Raisin”), stage actor Samuel Jordan, Lynn Van Royen (“Tabula Rasa”), Jodie Tyack (“The Feed”), and Carole Weyers (“Grey’s Anatomy”) will all star in the show. It heads into production in the U.K. next week, before moving to Belgium and Malta.

Co-production is commonplace in the international drama market, but not among European and Asian partners. Having pacted, Zdf Enterprises, the commercial arm of German pubcaster Zdf, and Japanese broadcaster Fuji will share international sales duties.

The pair first worked up the idea of teaming on drama at Mipcom three years ago. They unveiled the cast and full team on the show at the 2019 edition of the TV market. Berlin-based production company Boogie Entertainment developed “The Window,” and will make it with Belgium-based Velvet Films.

Exclusive: Japan and Europe are coming together on their first ever scripted co-production with Japanese broadcaster Fuji teaming with German distributor Zdf Enterprises and British writer James Payne (Mr Selfridge) on soccer drama The Window.

The move marks the latest shift in the global co-pro market and offers a new opportunity for Asian and European partners to work together on big-budget scripted projects.

The Window is a thriller, which is centered on the multi-billion dollar business that surrounds the elite world of professional football. It focuses on the transfer window, the period of time where footballers are bought and sold at the end of the English Premier League season, where agents wheel and deal. It follows Jordan Burdett, a humble, 17-year-old kid from the North of England, a talented player who is set to score a big contract, negotiated by his agent, and brother, who teams with complex super agent Romulus Daglis,...

Rob Kemp Jul 23, 2016

All the places are coming together for what promises to be an exciting finale to The Musketeers series 3...

This review contains spoilers.

3.8 Prisoners Of War

So we’re finally into the home stretch of the last season. This has to be the point at which The Musketeers will either make good on its past successes or fade away as another BBC also-ran. The season hasn’t quite been as strong as the last, but then it's by no means been a failure. A slight slump in the middle hasn’t overshadowed some great character work by the show’s regulars as well as some excellent work by some of the newcomers.

Prisoners Of War is an episode of two stories, one continuing the Musketeers’ chase for Grimauld and the threat against Paris from Louis’ death, and the other, the return of Milady and the more intimate danger she poses to our heroes.

As part of its continued original scripted programming drive, Sky 1 has ordered eight-part drama Hooten & The Lady from Tony Jordan's busy Red Planet Pictures. Sky Vision is handling sales at the upcoming Mipcom in Cannes on what's billed as a high-octane movie-of-the-week adventure that will be showrun by Jordan (Stop! In The Name Of Love!, Dickensian, Death In Paradise) atop a writing team that includes co-creators James Payne, Sarah Phelps, Jeff Povey and Richard…...

"There are roughly 350,000 congregations in the United States, and many of them do great work: feeding the hungry, clothing the poor," John Oliver says, opening his latest Last Week Tonight report. "But this is not a story about them. This is about the churches who exploit people's faith for monetary gain."

As Oliver explains, "televangelism is still thriving in this country," with preachers like Robert Tilton using the "prosperity gospel" to squeeze out mind-boggling amounts of money from their impressionable audiences. One televangelist, Creflo Dollar, used a fundraiser to buy a $65 million jet,...

"What is the role of women in this age of wonder?"

Feeling rather like a retort - albeit an unwitting one - to critics like myself who've questioned the negligble role afforded women on The Musketeers, 'A Rebellious Woman' sees our heroes encounter a new phenomenon: feminism.

Leading the charge is the rebellious woman of the episode's title. Actress Annabelle Wallis brought a gentle, almost ethereal quality to her role in BBC One's Peaky Blinders last year and impresses again here as spirited trailblazer Ninon De Larroque.

Ninon is seeking to educate the young women of Paris - even the lowliest servant girls - but her efforts have placed her in opposition not only to the city's stubborn menfolk but also the Cardinal, who is urged to crush the troublesome De Larroque to secure a position as the new Pope.

After a patchy early record, The Musketeers puts Peter Capaldi...