Channel 4 programming

Channel 4, in common with the other main British stations which were broadcast on analogue, airs a range of programming. It was established in 1982 with a specific intention of providing programming to groups of minority interests, not catered for by its competitors, which at the time were only the BBC and ITV.[1]

Channel 4 was one of the first "publisher-broadcaster" stations in the world. All of its programming is produced by other companies; it exists only to fund, broadcast and distribute its programmes – a stipulation which is included in its licence to broadcast.[2] It was also one of the first broadcasters to put its name on the introduction or end credits of programmes that it did not produce, a practice that is now widespread.

Animation

The channel has established a tradition of broadcasting the animated film of Briggs's picture book The Snowman, which in 1982 was the new channel's first major animated commission, every Christmas. The channel also commissioned early work by Nick Park and Aardman Animation. Other notable animations include:

And imported animations:

Breakfast

Channel 4's first dedicated breakfast show was The Channel Four Daily, launched in 1989. In September 1992 it was replaced with The Big Breakfast, then RI:SE in 2002. Since the end of RI:SE in 2003, Channel 4 has not had a dedicated programme, it currently broadcasts music video shows and repeats of sitcoms in the breakfast timeslot.

Children

Children's programmes had been featured as part of the weekend segment Early Morning since Channel 4 began broadcasting at breakfast time in April 1989. A children's magazine-style series called Early Bird was launched, and broadcast on Saturday mornings. In September 1992, Early Bird was dropped to make way for a Saturday morning spin-off of The Big Breakfast.

Children's programming

T4

Main article: T4 (Channel 4)

T4 is a separately identified strand carried on Channel 4 and E4 from 1998 to 2012. It consists of programming in the mornings seven days a week for an age range of around 16–25.

Some programmes include:

Comedy

During the station's early days screenings of innovative short one-off comedy films produced by a rotating line-up of alternative comedians went under the title of The Comic Strip Presents. The Tube and Friday Night Live also launched the careers of a number of comedians and writers. Channel 4 broadcast a number of popular American imports including Roseanne, Friends, Sex and the City, South Park and Will & Grace. Other significant US acquisitions include The Simpsons, for which the station was reported to have paid £700,000 per episode for the terrestrial television rights.

In April 2010, Channel 4 became the first UK broadcaster to adapt the American comedy institution of roasting to British television, with A Comedy Roast.[3][4]

Other notable comedies include:

Comedy gala

In 2010, Channel 4 organised Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a comedy benefit show in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. With over 25 comedians appearing, it billed it as "the biggest live stand up show in United Kingdom history". Filmed live on 30 March in front of 14,000 at The O2 Arena in London, it was broadcast on 5 April.[5] This has continued to 2012.

Factual and current affairs

Channel 4 has a strong reputation for history programmes and real-life documentaries. It has also courted controversy, for example by broadcasting live the first public autopsy in the UK for 170 years, carried out by Gunther von Hagens in 2002, or the 2003 one-off stunt Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live.

Its critically acclaimed news service, Channel 4 News, is supplied by ITN whilst its long-standing investigative documentary, Dispatches, causes perennial media attention.

Other notable factual programmes include:

News

The Channel 4 News is supplied by ITN. (1982–present)

Food

Channel 4 has broadcast a number of Jamie Oliver's documentaries, such as Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie's School Dinners and Jamie's Great Escape.

Other food related programmes include:

Observational/documentary

Observational and documentary programs carried by Channel 4 over the years include:

FourDocs

FourDocs is an online documentary site provided by Channel 4. It allows viewers to upload their own documentaries to the site for others to view. It focuses on documentaries of between 3 and 5 minutes. The website also includes an archive of classic documentaries, interviews with documentary filmmakers and short educational guides to documentary-making. It won a Peabody Award in 2006.[6] The site also includes a strand for documentaries of under 59 seconds, called 'Microdocs'.

Entertainment

Channel 4, pioneered the concept of 'after the pub' television with series such as Who Dares Wins, Friday Night Live and The Word broadcast in the 10–11pm slot. It is also noted for the screening of Big Brother.

Other reality TV shows on Channel 4 include Three in a Bed / Four in a Bed, the bed and breakfast exchange show.

In October 2005, Channel 4 began broadcasting the UK version of the Deal or No Deal game show. Despite being broadcast at non-peak time slots, on some occasions this show has been the most-watched show on Channel 4.

Countdown was Channel 4's first broadcast programme.

Light entertainment

Drama

On 4 November 2003, Channel 4 screened its final episode of Brookside, a soap opera which had run for the 21 years since the channel started. Channel 4 currently runs a soap opera called Hollyoaks, which shares the same creator as Brookside, and aims at a younger audience. An imported French soap, Chateauvallon, was shown on the station for a time, dubbed into English.

American drama is a key part of Channel 4's broadcasting, initially with NYPD Blue and ER. These were followed by Without a Trace, The Sopranos, The West Wing and Six Feet Under.

Popular US teen series Dawson's Creek began airing on channel 4 in 1998, drawing large audiences to its prime time slot in the six years it was broadcast.

In August 2005, Channel 4 started showing the US TV show Lost after a lengthy advertising campaign that included a 60-second commercial which cost over £1 million, becoming the most expensive advertisement produced in the UK. the pilot episode was watched by over 6 million viewers, placing it second in the overall ratings for the channel for that year. However, BSkyB acquired the rights to the third and fourth seasons of Lost.

Also in 2008, after a lengthy bidding war with Channel 5, ITV2 and Living, Channel 4 acquired the rights to the updated version of 90210. In the same year, it started airing True Blood after its global success, having originally aired on FX in the United Kingdom.

In 2013, Channel 4 obtained the rights to screen The Returned, a French drama that was broadcast with English subtitling from 9 June 2013.[7] 9 June 2013, also saw Channel 4 broadcast the United Kingdom's first ever French language advertisements, which aired to celebrate the premiere of The Returned.[8] They also started to show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (since moved to E4), Masters of Sex, Homeland and Fargo.

Other notable dramas include:

Schools programming

Channel 4 is obliged to carry schools programming as part of its remit and licence.[2]

ITV Schools on Channel 4

Since 1957 ITV had produced schools programming, which became an obligation.[9] In 1987, five years after the station was launched, the IBA afforded ITV free carriage of these programmes during Channel 4's then-unused weekday morning hours. This arrangement allowed the ITV companies to fulfil their obligation to provide schools programming, whilst allowing ITV itself to broadcast regular programs complete with advertisements. During the times in which schools programmes were aired, Channel 4 was effectively operated by ITV, with Central Television providing most of the continuity, and play-out originating from Birmingham.[10]

Channel 4 Schools/4Learning

After the restructuring of the station in 1993, ITV's obligations to provide such programming on Channel 4's airtime passed to Channel 4 itself, and the new service became Channel 4 Schools, with the new corporation administering the service and commissioning its programmes, some still from ITV, others from independent producers.[11]

In 2000, the service was renamed 4Learning, and in April 2007, the commercial arm and rights exploitation of its programmes and support materials was sold to Espresso Education and the business renamed Channel 4 Learning. Today, the service has diversified into pre-school and adult programmes, with much of its content also available in text and video form via the Internet, or through DVD sales. Its programming runs to around 400 hours per annum. One of its well known programmes is The Hoobs.

In March 2008, the 4Leaning interactive new media commission slabovia.tv was launched. The Slabplayer online media player showing TV shows for teenagers was launched on 26 May 2008.

See also: Channel 4 Learning site.

The schools programming has always had elements different to its normal presentational package. In 1993, the Channel 4 Schools idents featured famous people in one category, with light shining on them in from of an industrial looking setting supplemented by instrumental calming music. This changed in 1996 with the circles look to numerous children touching the screen, forming circles of information then picked up by other children. The last child would produce the channel 4 logo in the form of three vertical circles, with another in the middle and to the left containing the Channel 4 logo.

A present feature of presentation was a countdown sequence featuring, in 1993 a slide with the programme name, and afterwards an extended sequence matching the channel branding. In 1996, this was an extended ident with timer in top left corner, and in 1999 following the adoption of the squares look, featured a square with timer slowly make its way across the right of the screen with people learning and having fun while doing so passing across the screen. It finished with the Channel 4 logo box on the right of the screen and the name 'Channel 4 Schools' being shown. This was adapted in 2000 when the services name was changed to '4Learning'. In 2001, this was altered to various scenes from classrooms around the world and different parts of school life. The countdown now flips over from the top, right, bottom and left with each second, and ends with four coloured squares, three of which are aligned vertically to the left of the Channel 4 logo, with is contained inside the fourth box. The tag 'Learning' is located directly beneath the logo. The final countdown sequence lasted between 2004 and 2005 and featured a background video of current controversial issues, overlaid with upcoming programming information. the video features people in the style of graffiti enacting the overuse of CCTV cameras, fox hunting, computer viruses and pirate videos, relationships, pollution of the seas and violent lifestyles. Following 2005, no branded section has been used for school programmes.

Film

Numerous genres of film-making – such as comedy, drama, documentary, adventure/action, romance and horror/thriller – are represented in the channel's schedule. From the launch of Channel 4 until 1998, film presentations on C4 would often be broadcast under the "Film on Four" banner.

In March 2005, Channel 4 screened the uncut Lars von Trier film The Idiots, which includes unsimulated sexual intercourse, making it the first UK terrestrial channel to do so. The channel had previously screened other films with similar material but censored and with warnings. The broadcast after midnight only raised one complaint and has been taken as an indication of how far audience values have changed since the channel began.

Since 1 November 1998, Channel 4 has had a digital subsidiary channel dedicated to the screening of films. This channel launched as a paid subscription channel under the name "FilmFour", and was relaunched in July 2006 as a free-to-air channel under the current name of "Film4". The Film4 channel carries a wide range of film productions, including acquired and Film4-produced projects. Channel 4's general entertainment channels E4 and More4 also screen feature films at certain points in the schedule as part of their content mix.

Music

Some music programmes and strands include:

Channel 4 also operates a music and entertainment digital channel, 4Music, as part of its Box Television subsidiary.

Sports

Current sporting events on Channel 4 (most shown overnight and in early morning; only horse racing, Formula 1, IPC World Athletics Championships and Paralympics shown in peak time):

Paralympic Games

Channel 4 took over from the BBC as broadcaster of the Summer Paralympics in 2012, with 150 hours of television coverage.

2012 Summer Paralympics

Commentators:

2014 Winter Paralympics
2016 Summer Paralympics

Channel 4 will cover the 2016 Rio Paralympics

Formula One

Main article: F1 Channel 4

Channel 4 will broadcast up to 10 live Formula One Grands Prix including practices and qualifying from 2016 to the end of the 2018 seasons after purchasing the rights shared with Sky Sports from the BBC. Channel 4 will also show the race and associated events of the British Grand Prix and final race weekend.[12] Extended highlights will be shown of all races a few hours after the finish afternoon for Asia races, early evening for European and late night for live races and the Americas. Live race coverage will be produced by Whisper Films, with North One Television to produce accompanying programmes.[13] Channel 4's full presenting team was announced on 8 March 2016.

Channel 4 also announced that "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac would be their title music, the song previously used by the BBC's coverage.[14]

Name Appearances Role Job
David Coulthard[13] All races Co-Commentator & Lead analyst Co-commentator for qualifying and race day, Coulthard also provides expert analysis of qualifying and races, in addition to the pre-race grid-walk. He previously covered F1 on BBC from 2009–2015 and also director of Whisper Films.
Steve Jones All races Presenter Not previously worked on Formula 1 coverage
Ben Edwards All races Lead Commentator Previously lead commentator for Eurosport 1994-1996 and BBC F1 2012-2015. Also worked on ITV BTCC coverage.
Karun Chandhok All races co commentators,Pit lane reporter / Technical Analyst Previously worked for Sky Sports F1 & BBC Radio 5 Live
Lee McKenzie Most races (not Olympics and Paralympics) Driver interviewer / Presenter Also did this role for BBC F1 2009-2015
Murray Walker On rota Interviewer He previously commentated on F1 for BBC Sport from 1950-1996, and ITV Sport from 1997-2001. Occasional contributor to BBC F1 2009-2015. Walker also provides continuity announcements to F1 programming and races.
Nic Hamilton On rota
Susie Wolff All races Analyst
Mark Webber Most races (All that do not collide with WEC) Analyst Occasional reporter/analyst for BBC F1 2014-2015
Eddie Jordan On rota (when not working on Top Gear) Lead analyst Worked for BBC F1 2009-2015
Tony Dodgins All races Co-commentator & producer Worked for BBC F1 and various other media
Alain Prost On rota special analyst
Bruno Senna On rota Special Correspondent Previously worked for Sky Sports F1

The 10 live race weekends to be broadcast by Channel 4 in 2016 are:[15]

Round Grand Prix Circuit Date Pundits
2BahrainBahrain Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir1–3 AprilCoulthard, Webber, Wolff
5Spain Spain Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona13–15 MayCoulthard, Wolff, Prost
8EuropeAzerbaijan Baku City Circuit, Baku17–19 JuneCoulthard, Jordan, TBC
10BritainUnited Kingdom Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone8–10 July Coulthard, Jordan, Wolff, Hamilton, Prost, Senna, Walker, Webber (TBC)
11HungaryHungary Hungaroring, Budapest22–24 July
13BelgiumBelgium Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot26–28 August
14ItalyItaly Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza2–4 September
16MalaysiaMalaysia Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur30 September–2 October
19MexicoMexico Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City28–30 October
21Abu DhabiUnited Arab Emirates Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi25–27 November

Horse racing

Former members of the C4 team include John McCririck, Derek Thompson, John Francome, Mike Cattermole and Brough Scott.

Cricket

Channel 4 Cricket Team

American football

Other

Former sporting events on Channel 4

Other programmes

Some programmes not mentioned above include:

Channel 4 Presents... 3-D Week

From 16 November 2009 for one week only, the channel shows programmes such as:

The glasses are classic amber/blue colour and featured a chequered theme. They were available at Sainsburys in the UK. Channel 4 also asked for viewers to create a film and then use software to make it 3D; they would then be shown online. However, the massive demand for 3D specs was not met, and Channel 4 received a number of complaints that viewers could not enjoy 3D quality as the colours were amber/blue unlike the red/blue glasses received in DVD releases of 3D movies.

Controversies

Red triangle

Wank Week

Main article: Wank Week

A season of television programmes about masturbation, called Wank Week, was to be broadcast in the United Kingdom by Channel 4 in March 2007. The first show was about a Masturbate-a-thon, a public mass masturbation event, organised to raise money for the sexual health charity Marie Stopes International. Another film would have focused on compulsive male masturbators and a third was to feature the sex educator Dr Betty Dodson.

The series came under public attack from senior television figures, and was pulled amid claims of declining editorial standards and controversy over the channel's public service broadcasting credentials.[20] However, the films it was meant to showcase may yet be broadcast by the channel at a later date.

Global warming

On 8 March 2007 Channel 4 screened the highly controversial documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle. The programme states that global warming is "a lie" and "the biggest scam of modern times". The programme's accuracy has been disputed on multiple points and several commentators have criticised it for being one-sided, noting that the mainstream position on global warming is supported by the scientific academies of the major industrialised nations[21] There were 246 complaints to Ofcom as of 25 April 2007,[22] including the complaints that the programme falsified data.[23] The programme has been criticised by scientists and scientific organisations and various scientists which participated in the documentary claimed their views had been distorted.

Against Nature: An earlier controversial Channel 4 programme made by Martin Durkin which was also critical of the environmental movement and was charged by the Independent Television Commission of the UK for misrepresenting and distorting the views of interviewees by selective editing.

The Greenhouse Conspiracy: An earlier Channel 4 documentary broadcast on 12 August 1990, as part of the Equinox series, in which similar claims were made. Three of the people interviewed (Lindzen, Michaels and Spencer) were also interviewed in The Great Global Warming Swindle.

Ahmadinejad's Christmas speech

In the Christmas address of 2008, a Channel 4 tradition since 1993, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a thinly veiled attack on the United States by claiming that Christ would have been against "bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers".

A spokeswoman for the FCO said: “President Ahmadinejad has, during his time in office, made a series of appalling anti-Semitic statements. The British media are rightly free to make their own editorial choices, but this invitation will cause offence and bemusement not just at home but among friendly countries abroad.”[24]

Crazy About One Direction

On 15 August 2013, Channel 4 aired a 45-minute documentary on One Direction and their fans dubbed as "Directioners".[25] Following the airing, fans from all over the world, tweeted in rage against the documentary arguing that this was not them.[26][27]

Notable failures

Channel 4 has for a long time struggled in the breakfast slot. In 1989 the Channel launched a breakfast television slot produced by Mentorn Films, called The Channel Four Daily. In 1992 this was replaced by The Big Breakfast, which briefly outrated the ITV breakfast broadcast, GMTV, after the closure of TV-am. The Big Breakfast was axed in March 2002. It was replaced by RI:SE, which rated poorly. With the demise of RI:SE, Channel 4 withdrew from original programming in the breakfast TV slot. Now T4 runs the early morning slots on weekdays showing repeats of popular shows such as Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and Just Shoot Me. (This was temporarily interrupted in early 2006 with the show Morning Glory, designed to keep the audience following the early morning transmission of Big Brother's Little Breakfast).

4Talent

4Talent is an editorial branch of Channel 4's commissioning wing, which co-ordinates Channel 4's various talent development schemes for film, television, radio, new media and other platforms and provides a showcasing platform for new talent.

There are bases in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast, serving editorial hubs known respectively as 4Talent National, 4Talent Central England, 4Talent Scotland and 4Talent Northern Ireland. These four sites include features, profiles and interviews in text, audio and video formats, divided into five zones: TV, Film, Radio, New Media and Extras, which covers other arts such as theatre, music and design. 4Talent also collates networking, showcasing and professional development opportunities, and runs workshops, masterclasses, seminars and showcasing events across the UK.

4Talent has an active presence on social networking site Facebook.

See also 4Talent.

4Talent Magazine

4Talent magazine is the creative industries magazine from 4Talent, which launched in 2005 (originally titled TEN4 magazine) under the editorship of Dan Jones. 4Talent Magazine is currently edited by Nick Carson. Other staff include deputy editor Catherine Bray and production editor Helen Byrne. The magazine covers rising and established figures of interest in the creative industries, a remit including film, radio, TV, comedy, music, new media and design.

Subjects are usually UK-based, with contributing editors based in Northern Ireland, Scotland, London and Birmingham, but the publication has been known to source international content from Australia, America, continental Europe and the Middle East. The magazine is frequently organised around a theme for the issue, for instance giving half of November 2007's pages over to profiling winners of the annual 4Talent Awards.

An unusual feature of the magazine's credits is the equal prominence given to the names of writers, photographers, designers and illustrators, contradicting standard industry practice of more prominent writer bylines. It is also recognisable for its 'wraparound' covers, which use the front and back as a continuous canvas – often produced by guest artists.

Although 4Talent Magazine is technically a newsstand title, a significant proportion of its readers are subscribers. It started life as a quarterly 100-page title, but has since doubled in size and is now published bi-annually.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Russ J Graham (11 September 2005). "Yes it's no". seefour by Electromusications from Transdiffusion. Archived from the original on 24 January 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2007. External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. 1 2 "Channel 4 Broadcasting Licence" (PDF). Ofcom. 4 October 2006. pp. Appendix 2, part 10 (Page 13).
  3. ↑ Armstrong, Stephen (5 April 2010). "Channel 4 launches comedy roast shows". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  4. ↑ "A Comedy Roast – Series & Episodes". www.channel4.com/programmes/a-comedy-roast/episode-guide. Channel 4. n.d. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  5. ↑ "Comedy Royalty unite for Channel 4's Comedy Gala". www.channel4sales.com/news. Channel 4. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  6. ↑ 66th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2007.
  7. ↑ Alexander, Susannah (19 March 2013). "Channel 4 to air French horror drama 'Rebound'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Sandwell, Ian (31 May 2013). "Channel 4 to broadcast first ever ad break in French". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "schoolsTV.com – ITV for SCHOOLS & COLLEGES – HISTORY". Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2008.
  10. ↑ schoolsTV.com History of ITV Schools on Channel 4. Retrieved at the Internet Archive on 16 February 2008
  11. ↑ "schoolsTV.com – CHANNEL 4 SCHOOLS: 1993–1997 HISTORY". Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2008.
  12. ↑ "Channel 4 becomes terrestrial home of Formula 1". Channel 4. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Channel 4 awards Formula One production contract to Whisper Films". Channel 4. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  14. ↑ Klein, Jamie (12 February 2016). "Channel 4 to keep 'The Chain' as F1 theme song". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  15. ↑ "Channel 4 announces 2016 live Formula 1 races". Channel 4. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  16. ↑ Jessica Hodgson (30 July 2001). "ITV pays £5m for Tour de France". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  17. ↑ "Channel 4 drop Tour de France". BikeBiz. 15 February 2001. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Money and Business". 4Learning. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "Channel 4 Learning International". 4Learning. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  20. ↑ " Channel 4 postpones 'wank week' programming | Media | MediaGuardian".
  21. ↑ Houghton, John. "The Great Global Warming Swindle". The John Ray Initiative. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
  22. ↑ Adam, David (25 April 2007). "'Move to block emissions 'swindle' DVD". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  23. ↑ Connor, Steve (8 May 2007). "C4 accused of falsifying data in documentary on climate change – Independent Online Edition > Media". The Independent (London). Archived from the original on 10 May 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
  24. ↑ Thomas, Liz. "Outrage as Channel 4 lets Iranian ruler give 'offensive' alternative Christmas message". Daily Mail Online (London). Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  25. ↑ "Crazy About One Direction". Channel 4. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "#1DWereNotLikeTheseGirlsOnTheDocumentary". Twitter. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  27. ↑ Stringer, Mary (15 August 2013). "Crazy About One Direction: How Twitter turns part-time passion into full-time obsession". Metro. Retrieved 20 December 2015.

External links

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