News

Exclusive: Fran Harris, co-writer on BBC cop show Blue Lights, is developing a Cold Feet-style drama series with backing from Irish pubcaster RTÉ.

Harris has been working on the relationship drama Laura McNicholas, founder of Dublin-based indie 925 Productions, who is here in Rome at Mia Market pitching Yes! to buyers, co-production partners and distributors. RTÉ is aboard alongside Screen Ireland to support development, but the series isn’t yet greenlit.

McNicholas told Deadline it was being set up as an hour-long relationship drama “along the lines of Cold Feet as an ensemble. “There will ideally be multiple storylines and threads we can explore, giving it renewability for many seasons,” she added.

The plot is being billed as a “generational story about self-rediscovery” in which several unhappy college friends who reconnect in their late-30s been look for new venues after hitting crises in their lives, such as being widowed or divorced.

Starfield is a huge game. Surprising, but it is. Starfield is probably Bethesda’s largest game to date, and as is Bethesda (and open world) tradition, that experience is littered with secrets, references, and good old-fashioned Easter eggs.

Quite frankly, it’s difficult to not find a secret or Easter egg while exploring the outer recesses of Starfield. Perhaps you encountered someone trying to sell you an extended warranty on your ship, or maybe you noticed that all of the planets in the starting system of Alpha Centauri are named after famous astronauts.

These are only a few of the references you can find throughout the game, and quite frankly, not all of Starfield’s secrets and Easter eggs are created equal. Some are more impressive, either because they provide tangible rewards or because they show off mechanics you didn’t even know the game had. Others are just so...

Some 16 cities across the U.K. have thrown their hat in the ring to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, which can’t be held in Ukraine due to security concerns.

After weeks of discussions, it was revealed on Monday that the U.K. would host the event on behalf of the war-torn nation — and the idea has evidently landed well with cities all around the country. Not even six hours since the news broke, the European Broadcasting Union (Ebu), which organizes the contest, said in a statement that 16 cities plan to bid.

“Bidding is expected to be competitive, with several mayors, councillors and MPs already informally expressing an intention to bid, including representatives from: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wolverhampton,” said the Ebu.

The BBC has staged the Eurovision Song Contest more times than any other broadcaster, hosting in London...

Flavoured milk brand Oak has created a series of videos purporting to be footage of mask-wearing raiders forcing their way into convenience stores to conduct “reverse robberies” in which they fill the shelves with the drink.

The hidden camera-style videos appear to show shop staff being taken by surprise when the raid takes place. It features the mask-wearing man burst in a shop and announce “Everyone stay calm this is a reverse robbery.”

However the fact that the fridge they load up was already empty may lead to suggestions that the footage was actually staged. Nobody from the Monkeys or Parmalat was able to clarify at the time of posting.

According to a press release: “The Oak Facebook wall was inundated with fans complaining that they could no longer get a fix of their favourite flavoured milk. Their beloved Oak was disappearing from convenience stores across the land.

“Why? Because...

Mastercard has created a new campaign to demonstrate the advantages of its PayPass technology in participating retail outlets. The contactless payment technology allows consumers to swipe a card to pay for small transactions. The campaign centres around the idea that you can do more with faster transactions.

The ad features a henpecked husband rushing to buy junk food at the supermarket checkout in secret, then stashing it up his jumper in an attempt to hide it from his wife, and was directed by Tropfest film festival winning director Abe Forsyth of the Jungle Boys.

The campaign is targeting customers of supermarket chain Coles.

Credits

Creative Agency - McCann Sydney

Ecd – Oliver Maisey

Associate Creative Director – Joe Hawkins

Copywriter – Joe Hawkins

Art Director – Damian Sloan

Account Director – Lisa FitzGerald

Agency Head of TV – Colin Tuohy

TV Production Company – Jungle Boys

Director – Abe Forsythe

Producer – Alex Hay

MasterCard Australia

Michelle Pilot – MasterCard VP,...