Open Media
Open Media is a
The company was founded in 1987 and has produced more than 400 hours of television for major UK broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. It has made entertainment series and factual specials which have sold all over the world. It also produces communications and corporate media for some of Britain's most important businesses.
Open Media programmes have been nominated for many awards by the
Two different Open Media productions were featured during the 25th anniversary of
during the celebratory season.In 2009 the
In 2010 the Open Media series
The company recently announced it had digitised its archive to make extracts from all its programmes available to the film, television and advertising industries: "Interviews, talk shows, magic and entertainment shows featuring hundreds of hours of personalities from all over the world who made rare appearances on our programmes, rare because they did not appear elsewhere on television; or only very occasionally and not at such length; or they weren't subject to such focussed scrutiny as our formats gave them."[10]
Stars
The two series of Is This Your Life? featured extended and in-depth interviews with among others Jeremy Beadle, Morris Cerullo, Max Clifford, Germaine Greer, Olivia Newton-John, Jimmy Savile,[11] and Peter Tatchell: "a must-see, the most incisive chat show on the box".[12]
Open Media has produced talks by such figures as
Among those appearing in a Channel 4
Sportspeople appearing on Open Media programmes include
Mary Beard made an early television appearance in 1994 on an Open Media discussion for the BBC, Weird Thoughts.[16]
Productions
Entertainment
Entertainment series include
Factual
Factual series and specials include
- After Dark
- Brave New World
- The Great Pot Debate
- The Greatest F***ing Show on TV ("comic Jerry Sadowitz argues for more bad language on TV",[18] "probably contains the greatest number of swear words ever uttered on British TV"[19])
- Is This Your Life?[20]
- James Randi: Psychic Investigator
- John Wells and the Three Wise Men[21]
- Natural Causes[22]
- Opinions
- Orient: Club for a Fiver[23]
- The Spy Machine
- Suez: A Personal View by historian Andrew Roberts[24]
- The Talking Show with Sandi Toksvig
as well as various films for Channel 4's Equinox, e.g. Secrets of the Super Psychics, Superpowers?[25] and Theme Park Heaven.[26] Another Open Media film for Equinox - The Big Sleep[27] - was the subject of a lengthy article in 2022.[28]
The company mounted an unusual discussion - Weird Thoughts
One of the company's documentary specials – The Mediator
See also
- After Dark
- List of After Dark editions
- Opinions
- The Secret Cabaret
- Secrets of the Psychics
- The Spy Machine
- Anthony Clare
- Uri Geller
- Jonathan Kaplan
- Helena Kennedy
- Sinéad O'Connor
- Dennis Potter
- James Randi
- Jerry Sadowitz
- Gordon Thomas
- John Underwood
- Tony Wilson
- Leyton Orient F.C.
References
- ^ Angela Lambert, 'A modern twist to an old, old story', The Independent, 15 September 1991
- ^ "Channel 4 at 25 – Page 5 – TV Forum". Tvforum.uk. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ "Channel 4 at 25 – After Dark – TV Shows: UK – Digital Spy Forums". Digital Spy. 27 October 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ The Committee Office, House of Commons. "House of Commons – Broadcasting – First Report". Parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "Home | BFI InView". Bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ISBN 978-1781310724
- ^ Just don't f*** it up, The Guardian, 1 December 2012, and The Sunday Times and The Observer, 2 December 2012
- ^ "An instinctive look at the world is taken through a glass darkly", The Herald, Neil Cooper, 5 January 2016, accessed 13 September 2017
- ^ Rerun the jewels, Jack Seale, The Guardian, 18 April 2020, accessed 25 November 2020
- ^ Jerome Kuehl and Open Media, FOCAL newsletter, accessed 18 November 2020.
- ^ "IsThisYourLife". 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2016 – via YouTube.
- ^ A. A. Gill, The Sunday Times, 6 August 1995
- ISBN 9780753816950
- ^ Dennis Potter: The Outsider Inside, BFI website. Retrieved 4 July 2014
- ^ The Opinions Debate, transmitted by Channel 4 on 28 March 1993 (the eve of the 50th birthday of the then Prime Minister John Major)
- ^ a b "Weird Thoughts (1994) @ EOFFTV". Eofftv.com. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Geoffrey Perkins RIP". Ilxor.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ Evening Standard, 15 March 1994
- ^ The Times, 26 March 1994
- ^ "Is This Your Life? (TV series) | BFI". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "John Wells and the Three Wise Men (1988) | BFI". Explore.bfi.org.uk. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ "Natural Causes (1996) | BFI". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "Shows with Olivia Newton-John, James Goldsmith, George Soros and Andrew Neil". Openmedia.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ Radio Times, 23 October 1996
- ^ "Superpowers? (2001) – Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "Theme Park Heaven (1992) | BFI". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "Hypnosis – The Big Sleep (1994) | BFI". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ HYPNOSIS ON THE SMALL SCREEN by Kev Sheldrake, accessed 16 June 2022
- ^ Weird ’90s – Weird Night, article in Horrified magazine, 17 May 2021, accessed 10 November 2021
- ^ "The Mediator (1995) | BFI". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- British Medical Journal, October 1995
- ^ Open Media gets inside story on M&C Saatchi, Televisual magazine, September 1998