Originally Posted by stv viewer:
“I was wondering if someone could explain how the big Golden handcuff deals worked in the late 90s / early 2000s. I know actors and presenters got them buymt Now the only ones that seem to get them are Ant and Dec and maybe a few other presenters”
ITV did have quite a lot of actors on golden handcuffs deals in the nineties, big names like John Thaw and David Jason who they wanted to keep doing their big shows for ITV. I think the exact moment ITV decided not to put actors on golden handcuffs anymore is when they gave one to Ross Kemp at the end of the nineties - they could never find anything for him to do so they ended up whacking him in a load of undistinguished one-offs and dull series where he was in them for the sake of it. Nick Berry was another one, he did a load of one-offs that did not much and I remember William Phillips in Broadcast saying "Perhaps viewers only like that face under a helmet".
In terms of golden handcuffs deals for actors I think those days are gone because I don't think it works well for anyone. It means that instead of choosing the best person to be in a drama you end up having to use someone under contract even if they're not the most suitable choice - I wonder how many of the Ross Kemp dramas might have worked better if they hadn't had Ross Kemp in them? - so I don't think writers and directors are very interested in them. And the actors themselves can't really pick and choose what they do because they're a bit limited to mainstream ITV stuff and they have to do X shows a year. And it's only really exceptional actors that viewers make a point of watching in anything because it's them, John Thaw and David Jason were probably two of the only people who could have done it. Even those two ended up doing quite a lot of undistinguished fare on ITV for the sake of it.
It's different with presenters because you have far more flexibility and most presenters, if they're any good, can front any format in a perfectly professional manner - and of course they're popular because of their own personalities, rather than the characters they play.
Of course, not everyone who only appears on one channel is on a golden handcuffs deal, they may simply be offered so much work on one channel they don't have time to work for anyone else. And other people may specifically always want to work with the same people on the same channel because they like working there so much.
Originally Posted by Markynotts:
“What is Adrian Chiles doing these days ?”
Lots of things, he's a regular presenter on Five Live and he did a documentary series about Catholicism for the Beeb earlier this year which did alright as these things go. I still think he's a good presenter, and it may not have worked out for him on ITV but so what? You can't force people to stay in the same job forever. He'd been at the Beeb for a long time so probably fancied a change. Indeed, it may not have even been a golden handcuffs contract anyway, certainly he was doing stuff on Five Live while still at ITV. Indeed, when Des Lynam joined ITV, which was probably one of their highest profile poachings ever, they said he could still carry on doing his show on Radio 2 if he wanted, and the Beeb said they'd keep him on as well. But he decided not to, and make a clean break from the Beeb.
I see one poster on this thread has suggested someone at the Beeb is on a golden handcuffs deal and then two posts later says they don't do them. A remarkable U-turn even by this thread's standards.
Originally Posted by fmradiotuner1:
“they could be many more bad nights coming for BBC1 with all the cut backs?”
I find this a bit of an overexaggeration. Last night was hardly a stellar night for BBC1 but they had fairly undistinguished factual at 8pm and 9pm. That's hardly unique to the current climate and there have been plenty of nights over the years on BBC1 when they've shown nondescript factual and done middling business, even when they were coining it in.
Originally Posted by marke09:
“According to the Independent series four of Sherlock may debut on Friday December 23 and be shown on Friday nights for its run”
I find that a bit hard to believe, I seriously doubt they've decided on the scheduling that far in advance. Fridays in January would seem to be unlikely anyway what with the FA Cup third round. The only reference to Sherlock scheduling I can see on the Independent is this article which says it'll probably start on New Year's Day -
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...-a7032226.html
Great rating for the football, it would've been good for 5m+ on ITV.