<![CDATA[CHANNEL 4 APPOINTS HEAD OF MUSIC FOR 4 RADIO ]]>
Donelly's addition to the radio management team is the second senior appointment made by 4 Radio's Director of Radio, Bob Shennan, in the past week.

Donelly will work across all of 4 Radio's national digital radio stations and have overall responsibility for the music output of each station. Initially he will work closely with Bob Shennan on developing the music strategy and launch plans for E4 Radio.

Commenting on the appointment Shennan said: "Alex is highly experienced and respected in the music industry. His kudos and standing will be a great asset to our radio business and I look forward to him joining the team."

Donelly added: "I'm sad to be leaving the world's best music publisher, but thrilled to be joining Channel 4, whom I regard as the UK's leading creative and innovative broadcaster. The opportunity to be part of the team building a new music radio platform is very exciting."

EMI Music Publishing UK President Guy Moot commented: "We're sorry to be losing someone of Alex's skills and experience, but this is a fantastic opportunity for him and he goes to 4 Radio with our best wishes for the future."

Alex Donelly has worked in the music industry since leaving University. He joined the BBC in 1997 and was promoted to Head of Music at Radio 1 in 2000, where he broke artists such as Eminem, Coldplay, Streets, So Solid Crew and Basement Jaxx. In 2005 he joined EMI Music Publishing and was responsible for signing new artists and developing existing ones, including Scouting for Girls and Justin Nozuka.
]]> <![CDATA[FILMING BEGINS ON CHANNEL 4 ENGLISH CIVIL WAR DRAMA ]]>
Created and written by Martine Brant and BAFTA winning playwright Peter Flannery, The Devil's Whore tells the epic story of the English Civil War through the eyes of Angelica Fanshawe, a young aristocratic woman who is drawn to the anti-monarchist cause at a time when England dared to execute its King and search for an alternative means of government.

The compelling four-part serial will star an impressive cast headed up by newcomer Andrea Riseborough as Fanshawe. Riseborough's acclaimed stage roles include The Pain and the Itch at the Royal Court and Citizenship at The National Theatre. She will shortly appear as the young Margaret Thatcher in the forthcoming BBC 4 drama The Long Walk to Finchley as well as the female lead in a Film4 short film, Love Me More; the directorial debut of artist Sam Taylor Wood, which will premier at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

John Simm (Life on Mars) plays anti-hero Edward Sexby, alongside Dominic West (The Wire), Michael Fassbender (Hex) and Tom Goodman-Hill (Gideon's Daughter, Spamalot) as the three leaders of the Revolution; Cromwell, Rainsborough, and Lilburne. Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It) stars as King Charles I, with Maxine Peake (Shameless, See No Evil) as Elizabeth Lilburne.

One of British television's most distinguished voices, Peter Flannery - who won acclaim for his BBC TV series Our Friends in the North - has worked with Martine Brant to create The Devil's Whore; a blend of fact and fiction which illuminates what is, in screen terms, a surprisingly neglected era in English history. We meet Angelica Fanshawe in the court of King Charles I, a spirited but unquestioning royalist, she marries her aristocratic cousin Harry (Ben Aldridge). But in the subsequent years we follow her brave journey, charting her passionate affairs of the heart and mind, from a position of innocence to that of painfully learned political and emotional awareness.

Peter Flannery says:
"The Devil's Whore is certainly not intended as a history lesson. I have quite consciously taken liberties with known facts and personalities in order to construct a different kind of truth - the sort of truth Our Friends in the North told about post-war Britain, the sort of truth a documentary approach cannot reveal."

Head of Channel 4 Drama, Liza Marshall says:
"It is a testament to Peter Flannery's extraordinary scripts that this project has attracted some of the industry's hottest talents; from director Marc Munden, fresh from the BAFTA winning success of The Mark of Cain, to a cast including rising star Andrea Riseborough and more familiar names John Simm and Dominic West. I am confident that this will be a big, bold highlight in Channel 4's autumn season."

The Devil's Whore will film from May 08. The 4 x 60 minute episodes will be broadcast on Channel 4 in the autumn. Made by Company Pictures (Shameless, Skins, Elizabeth I) and produced by Jake Lushington with executive producers Charlie Pattinson, George Faber, Martine Brant, Peter Flannery and Justin Bodle, the drama is directed by award-winning director Marc Munden (The Mark of Cain, Vanity Fair).
]]> <![CDATA[SHAMELESS 6 STARTS SHOOTING ]]> Shameless is back again, as filming begins on series six of the multi award-winning drama series.

The Gallaghers, The Maguires, and all the lawless, loveable characters of the Chatsworth Estate return for 16 new and unpredictable episodes for 2009.

This series promises benefit fraud, brothels, stints in jail and stings gone wrong, with fake suicides, cold turkey, joyriding, lesbian romps, lingerie parties, revenge and a trip to the seaside to boot - all life-affirming events in the world of this Manchester estate.

Debbie (Rebecca Ryan) hits sweet sixteen and the Gallaghers are going to celebrate the only way they know how - a party! Frank (David Threlfall) suffers post natal depression with baby number nine - while Monica (Annabel Apsion) is busy re-decorating the house and regaining her womanhood. Micky Maguire (Ciaran Griffiths) goes to college and discovers a talent for porn, plus his ‘Madchester' tours in his pink limo get him and brother Shane (Nicky Evans) into trouble. Liam's (Johnny Bennett) talents continue to burst out when school discovers his leaning towards genius.

New this series, there's feisty auxiliary nurse Maxine (Joanna Higson), who after seducing Carl (Elliott Tittensor) gets her feet firmly under the Gallagher's table when she becomes best mates and clubbing partner with Debbie, and Mandy (Samantha Siddall) meets a charismatic new love interest Joe (Ben Batt).

Some sinister dealings and the breakdown of family on the Chatsworth Estate sets a darker tone to series six. The highly un-orthodox yet extremely tightly knit Gallagher family is torn apart, while the Maguires' past deeds finally come back to haunt them. Even Yvonne (Kelli Hollis) has some serious explaining to do when an unexpected visitor turns up. How will they all cope?

Cracks appear in Karen (Rebecca Atkinson) and Jamie's (Aaron McCusker) marriage and Paddy Maguire (Sean Gilder) discovers that temptation comes in various forms. Ian (Gerard Kearns) questions if Chatsworth is the place for him and introduces a strange newcomer to the estate; whilst Norma (Dystin Johnston) makes a grim discovery while refurbishing The Jockey, and a grimmer one, when she goes in search of her own past.

Producer Lawrence Till, says: "I am delighted to be Producing the next series of Shameless and to be making television that I would want to watch. Series 6 is exciting, ambitious and daring - taking stories into areas we don't know and places we have never been. We can delight in the surprising nature of ordinary people with drama that unpeels the enormous emotional complexity of their lives".

Camilla Campbell, Commissioning Editor for Channel 4 Drama says: "Shameless continues to be a drama series that Channel 4 is incredibly proud of; there is nothing like it on British television and it consistently attracts a large and devoted audience. This series strikes at what has always been the heart of Shameless - the trials and tribulations of family"

Paul Abbott has personally mentored and brought together a diverse and talented pool of writers to work on Shameless 6 and includes: Ed McCardie, Sarah Hooper, Jimmy Dowdall, Tom Higgins, Jack Lothian, Ian Kershaw, Davey Jones, Malcolm Campbell, Tracy Brabin, Emma Taylor, Paul Tomalin and Alex Ganley.
]]> <![CDATA[CHANNEL 4 APPOINTS HEAD OF MUSIC FOR 4 RADIO ]]>
Donelly's addition to the radio management team is the second senior appointment made by 4 Radio's Director of Radio, Bob Shennan, in the past week.

Donelly will work across all of 4 Radio's national digital radio stations and have overall responsibility for the music output of each station. Initially he will work closely with Bob Shennan on developing the music strategy and launch plans for E4 Radio.

Commenting on the appointment Shennan said: "Alex is highly experienced and respected in the music industry. His kudos and standing will be a great asset to our radio business and I look forward to him joining the team."

Donelly added: "I'm sad to be leaving the world's best music publisher, but thrilled to be joining Channel 4, whom I regard as the UK's leading creative and innovative broadcaster. The opportunity to be part of the team building a new music radio platform is very exciting."

EMI Music Publishing UK President Guy Moot commented: "We're sorry to be losing someone of Alex's skills and experience, but this is a fantastic opportunity for him and he goes to 4 Radio with our best wishes for the future."

Alex Donelly has worked in the music industry since leaving University. He joined the BBC in 1997 and was promoted to Head of Music at Radio 1 in 2000, where he broke artists such as Eminem, Coldplay, Streets, So Solid Crew and Basement Jaxx. In 2005 he joined EMI Music Publishing and was responsible for signing new artists and developing existing ones, including Scouting for Girls and Justin Nozuka.]]> <![CDATA[CHANNEL 4 PUBLISHES ANNUAL REPORT 2007 ]]> Programme spend rises 3% to £624m, delivering 2nd highest annual viewing share and highest share of total TV advertising in Group history


Most BAFTAs and RTS Awards of any individual channel
Continued growth for digital TV channels delivers first annual profit


Successful launch of full VOD service and +1 catch up channel, and winning bid for 2nd national commercial DAB multiplex licence

Channel 4 rose above the difficulties experienced across the UK television industry in 2007 to deliver both record creative investment in award-winning programmes and financial break-even despite almost no growth in turnover.

Programme and content spend across the Group in the financial year to 31st December 2007 rose 3% to an historic high of £624 million (£608m, 2006). More than £400 million was invested in commissioning original UK content, with the lion's share being spent with UK based independent producers, 312 of whom supplied content during the year.

This record creative investment produced a range of critically-acclaimed public service output, with Channel 4 broadcasting more than 350 new programmes in peak time during the year (between 6pm and midnight), more than any other terrestrial channel and twice as many as ITV1. The quality of Channel 4's creative output was acknowledged by it winning the highest number of awards for any individual channel at both the RTS and BAFTA ceremonies for programmes broadcast during 2007.

At the latest BAFTA TV awards ceremony on Sunday (20th April) Channel 4 won eight prizes for Boy A, Britz, China's Stolen Children, Fonejacker (E4), The Lie of the Land, The Mark of Cain, Peep Show and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Other award winners during 2007 include Deep Water, Ghosts (More4), The IT Crowd, It's a Free World..., Meet the Natives, The Relief of Belsen, Secret Life, Skins (E4), The Trial of Tony Blair (More4) and You're Not Splitting Up My Family. Channel 4 has just won its fifth Oscar in the last four years for Peter and the Wolf, following on from the success of The Last King of Scotland at the 2007 Academy Awards.

Chief Executive, Andy Duncan, said: "Our 25th anniversary year was a vintage creative one. It was gratifying to win the most BAFTA awards for any channel, with recognition across the board from current affairs and documentary to comedy and drama."

The diverse creative output across the Group's TV channels helped it achieve the second highest annual share of all TV viewing in its history at 11.9% (12.1%, 2006). Ratings for the core Channel 4 service fell 11% to 8.7% (9.8%, 2006), as a result of a decline in afternoon performance after ITV1 moved CiTV out of its weekday schedule and lower ratings for Big Brother. However, this was offset by growth for digital TV channels E4, More4 and Film4, which increased their collective share of all TV viewing by 35%. During 2007, 26% of all viewing of Channel 4's channels was to its digital services, making them the most successful digital portfolio of any terrestrial broadcaster.

In August 2007 Channel 4 became the first terrestrial broadcaster to launch a +1 catch-up service across all digital platforms. By the end of the year, Channel 4 +1 was ahead of plan and was contributing around 6% of all monthly viewing to the core channel.

The strength of Channel 4's overall ratings performance in 2007 allowed the Group to increase its share of the total TV advertising market to 24.1%, its highest ever share. Growth was driven by the digital TV channels, which increased advertising revenue by £35.7 million or 32% to £148.4 million (£112.7m, 2006). The core Channel 4 service grew advertising revenues by £12.4m or 1.9% to £676.8 million (£664.4m, 2006), although this was below overall growth for the TV advertising market at 3.2%.

Programme costs for the core Channel 4 service increased more rapidly than revenues, by £20.8 million or 4% to £536.5 million (£515.7m, 2006). This led to the core channel recording an operating loss of £7.8 million, its first annual deficit since 1992. The digital TV channels were collectively in the black for the first time, returning an operating profit of £16.2 million (loss of £17.6m, 2006), helping the Channel 4 Group return a pre-tax surplus of £1.6m (£21.3m, 2006).

Group turnover was flat during 2007 with the £48.1 million increase in advertising revenue balancing falling revenues from rights and other sources, including reduced income from premium rate telephone services as a result of the problems with phone-in competitions on Richard & Judy and Deal or No Deal.

Channel 4 is aiming to replicate its success in digital TV on new digital media platforms. Channel 4's New Media division grew revenues by £8.2 million or 44% to £26.7 million (£18.5m, 2006), but recorded an operating loss of £15.4 million (loss of £6m, 2006) largely as a result of start-up investment in its 4oD service. 4oD was the first full VOD service launched by a UK broadcaster and grew rapidly during 2007 - it now has more than 4 million users who have viewed more than 110 million programmes since launch.

Channel 4 is also diversifying into digital radio having led 4 Digital Group's successful bid in July 2007 for the licence to run the second national commercial DAB multiplex. The Group is involved in industry discussions about a proposed DAB platform relaunch as well as continuing to advance plans to launch new national digital radio stations.

During 2007 Channel 4 made a number of disposals in pursuit of maximum cost-efficiency, including its ownership interests in Channel 4 International, Oneword Radio and its commercial education operation, 4 Learning. The Group also entered into a 50% joint venture with Emap Consumer (acquired by H Bauer Verlag KG) in Box TV Ltd.

Duncan said: "Channel 4's key objective each year is successful delivery of its public service remit, not maximising profit. In a difficult year for television, it was a significant achievement to be able to make our highest ever investment in award-winning UK content while still managing to break even. We recorded the second highest annual share of viewing and the highest share of total TV advertising revenue in our history."

Chairman, Luke Johnson, added: "2007 will be the last year in which Channel 4, under its current funding model, manages the difficult balance between increased creative investment and financial break even. The tipping point we have been warning about has been reached, with the core channel now in deficit and being supported by profits from secondary activities. In response to market conditions, we are already having to cut editorial budgets and a new public funding solution is now urgently required if we are to maintain such impressive levels of public service plurality in competition with the BBC."

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