The Television Workshop, formerly known as the Central Junior Television Workshop is a British organisation that offers training for young people in performance skills for television, film, radio and theatre. Open to anybody between the ages of seven and 21, entry is by an annual audition process which is held each spring.

History

The Central Junior Television Workshop was originally set up by

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

in 1983 to act as a casting pool for young talent in their broadcasting region in the

English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

.Bhagat, Adrian
"Adrian Bhagat put some questions to Ian Smith"
''LeftLion.co.uk'' (Retrieved: 13 August 2009) The Workshop has two branches, the original one based in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and another based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, which opened a year later in 1984. The Workshop has been known as several different names over the past including the Central Junior TV Workshop, Carlton Junior TV Workshop, ITV Junior TV Workshop and most recently simply The Television Workshop.

Birmingham Workshop

In late 2008, the

workshop run by their director Colin Edwards and his assistant Ross Berkeley Simpson, lost funding from ITV due to the recession and so the Birmingham branch went 'dark'. At the same time Edwards retired. In 2009, Ross Berkeley Simpson started a new, separate group called First Act Workshops to ensure that the work continued in Birmingham. Colin Edwards helped on a consultant level. First Act Workshops trains young actors in weekly sessions from Moseley Dance Centre. Some of the young people have been helped into professional work, and indeed this has kickstarted some careers, including Helen Monks (Raised by Wolves) and Gregory Piper (Line of Duty). Piper started his training at a separate Drama Workshop in Stourbridge but his career was handled by First Act Workshops. Sam Cole started with the workshop and secured the tour of 'Back down', a play by spoken word artist Polar Bear. The Nottingham branch of the Central Television Workshop still continues under the name The Television Workshop under the helm of Nic Harvey.

Alumni

Nottingham Birmingham

Awards

* The Royal Television Society Midlands Award (1988) * The

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

Children's Award (1995) * The Children's BAFTA in recognition of its outstanding development of young talent for film and television. (2006)

References

{{reflist

External links

The Television WorkshopFirst Act Workshop
(Birmingham Workshop) * Youth theatre companies Performing groups established in 1983