''Deadline'' is a British

fly-on-the-wall Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, ...

documentary series following the journalists at

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

's local news service, ''

Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

''. It was broadcast as a series of six episodes on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

from 20 March to 1 May 1995 as part of its ''Whose News?'' season.

Production

agreed to allow access to

documentary series following

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

's refusal to take part in the project. Most of the ''Calendar'' team took part in the documentary rather than be accused of hypocrisy;

Christa Ackroyd Christa Marion Ackroyd is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known as a former presenter for the regional TV news programmes ''Calendar'' (for ITV Yorkshire) and ''BBC Look North''. Early life Ackroyd, whose father was a policeman, at ...

says, "how could I, a TV journalist whose job it is to persuade others to appear on camera, refuse to take part when the tables were turned?". The documentary crew spent three months following the newsgatherers at Yorkshire TV.Episode 1, Deadline, 20 March 1995, Channel 4 Some material was removed from the broadcast version. Journalist Alan Hardwick was captured making some, what ''The Guardian''s media editor labels "fairly abusive", remarks about criminals. Ackroyd reports that some people refused to sign

release form A legal release is a legal instrument that acts to terminate any legal liability between the releasor and the releasee(s), signed by the releasor. A release may also be made orally in some circumstances. Releases are routinely used by photographer ...

s, and 'no filming' areas were established. Yorkshire TV were unhappy at the documentary's

press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

, which began: "Coming up in just a moment, the biggest petunia in the world – and the man whose grown it. But first, the Bradford murder." Channel 4 thought that the sentence reflected ''Calendar''s diverse content, but Yorkshire were concerned that it made them look silly. The press was requested not to use the offending words.

Episodes

The first episode focussed upon the media coverage of the disappearance of schoolgirl

Lindsay Rimer Lindsay may refer to: People *Clan Lindsay, a Scottish family clan *Lindsay (name), an English surname and given name, derived from the Scottish clan name; variants include Lindsey, Lyndsay, Linsay, Linsey, Lyndsey, Lyndsy, Lynsay, Lynsey Places ...

in November 1994, whose body was recovered shortly after the episode was broadcast. This first episode also covered more trivial stories, such as the launch of a new cheese, and a live interview with ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' actress

Lynne Perrie Lynne Perrie (born Jean Dudley; 7 April 1931 – 24 March 2006) was an English actress, singer and television personality, best known as Mrs Casper in Ken Loach's 1969 film ''Kes (film), Kes'', Mrs Petty in the television series ''Queenie's Cast ...

, who was promoting her autobiography.

Reception

Tom Sutcliffe, in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', expressed concern over the length of the series, suggesting that it might become "too much of a good thing" and the focus upon a regional news service ("a little local runabout", writes Sutcliffe) rather than "the great national juggernauts". Much of Sutcliffe's criticisms were about the journalistic practices and integrity of the ''Calendar'' team; he questions its staging of police briefings, and the decision to devote airtime to the launch of a cheese.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=1329627, title=Deadline 1995 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings 1990s British documentary television series Channel 4 documentary series 1990s British television miniseries British English-language television shows Yorkshire Television Television series about television