INTERNATIONAL TV FESTIVAL, EDINBURGH (DS) — A slate of "human interest" and factual documentaries has been lined up as part of Five's autumn schedule.
Leading the pack is the second series of the Extraordinary People strand, which includes episodes profiling 'The World's Cleverest Boy' and 'The Girl Who's Turning To Stone'.
Geezers for geezers
The organisers of the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival have taken the precaution of hiring two burly bouncers in case it all kicks off in the Gangster Lover session, in which TV's apparent love affair with tasty geezers will be forensically examined. Well someone's got to keep panelists Donal MacIntyre and Ann Widdecombe from donnybrooking.
Friday August 26, 2005
Media Monkey
Guardian
http://media.guardian.co.uk/edinburghtvfestival/story/0,,1557081,00.html
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And Channel 5 is to unveil details of its autumn schedule.
High points include two historical series – a six-part look at Hannibal and the Roman empire, and an exploration of the power behind Boudica, Britain's legendary female rebel leader.
Donal MacIntyre, an investigative reporter, returns with the Big Sting series and a special investigation into the activities of extreme right-wing groups and racist musicians.
New commissions include Perfect Day, a two-hour comedy drama, and Swinging, a six-part comedy sketch show about relationships.
Fri 26 Aug 2005
FERGUS SHEPPARD
MEDIA CORRESPONDENT
The Scotsman
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1843602005
Channel Five yesterday promised to take on its competitors in the areas of original drama and comedy, with the promise of more investment in the genres and a big-budget Cold Feet style one-off show.
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He has already succeeded in boosting the reputation of the channel by investing in populist arts programming and documentaries. The Extraordinary People documentaries will return with programmes including The World's Cleverest Boy and a human interest series, Hidden Lives.
He described the schedule as rich and varied, with "a great range of documentary series which celebrate the human experience in all its huge diversity, and which will make for compelling viewing".
The art critics Brian Sewell and Tim Marlow will also return with new programmes, as will the investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre.
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Friday August 26, 2005
Owen Gibson
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1556704,00.html
The nun adored by the Vatican ran a network of care homes where cruelty and neglect are routine. Donal MacIntyre gained secret access and witnessed at first hand the suffering of "rescued" orphans
The dormitory held about 30 beds rammed in so close that there was hardly a breath of air between the bare metal frames. Apart from shrines and salutations to "Our Great Mother", the white walls were bare. The torch swept across the faces of children sleeping, screaming, laughing and sobbing, finally resting on the hunched figure of a boy in a white vest. Distressed, he rocked back and forth, his ankle tethered to his cot like a goat in a farmyard. This was the Daya Dan orphanage for children aged six months to 12 years, one of Mother Teresa's flagship homes in Kolkata. It was 7.30 in the evening, and outside the monsoon rains fell unremittingly.
Earlier in the day, young international volunteers had giggled as one told how a young boy had peed on her while strapped to a bed. I had already been told of an older disturbed woman tied to a tree at another Missionaries of Charity home. At the orphanage, few of the volunteers batted an eyelid at disabled children being tied up. They were too intoxicated with the myth of Mother Teresa and drunk on their own philanthropy to see that such treatment of children was inhumane and degrading.
The nun adored by the Vatican ran a network of care homes where cruelty and neglect are routine. Donal MacIntyre gained secret access and witnessed at first hand the suffering of "rescued" orphans
The dormitory held about 30 beds rammed in so close that there was hardly a breath of air between the bare metal frames. Apart from shrines and salutations to "Our Great Mother", the white walls were bare. The torch swept across the faces of children sleeping, screaming, laughing and sobbing, finally resting on the hunched figure of a boy in a white vest. Distressed, he rocked back and forth, his ankle tethered to his cot like a goat in a farmyard. This was the Daya Dan orphanage for children aged six months to 12 years, one of Mother Teresa's flagship homes in Kolkata. It was 7.30 in the evening, and outside the monsoon rains fell unremittingly.
Earlier in the day, young international volunteers had giggled as one told how a young boy had peed on her while strapped to a bed. I had already been told of an older disturbed woman tied to a tree at another Missionaries of Charity home. At the orphanage, few of the volunteers batted an eyelid at disabled children being tied up. They were too intoxicated with the myth of Mother Teresa and drunk on their own philanthropy to see that such treatment of children was inhumane and degrading.
New Delhi. At a Gurgaon orphanage founded by Mother Teresa, children are tortured by monks and sexually abused by older inmates, the Vatican has been told.
Italian neurologist Dr Franco, who worked as a volunteer at the home, has attached photographs that show the alleged abuse with his letter to the Pope's office and the Apostolic Nunciature in New Delhi, the Vatican's embassy.
The orphanage, Deepashram, is managed by the Missionaries of Charity's male wing, Brothers Contemplative. It is home to over 75 mentally challenged orphans of various ages from across India.
"Teenage inmates of the ashram are put into hardship by the friars (and) the elder (children) in the ashram are also involved in sexual activities with (younger) children, who are helpless in retaliating," Dr Franco's complaint says.
I don't believe that things are as bad as Donal MacIntyre (Letters, July 27) would have them. I think the idea of a "lost generation" is fatuous, and I consider that those who indulge in reportage about young people should show respect to all young people by weighing their headlines carefully. That word "academic" doesn't make MacIntyre a disinterested observer.
Hilton Dawson, chief executive, Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa
Wednesday August 10, 2005
The Guardian – Letters
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1545545,00.html
