LONDON -- ITV1 program head Nigel Pickard on Wednesday put crime at the heart of the network's program schedule as four new police dramas were pegged to roll out this fall. Announcing ITV's fall schedule, Pickard said the network's is offering "bold programming with a broad range" that will unite families and that drama was at the core of its mission. "We commission more drama on one channel than any other broadcaster; look at the range of what we've got," he told reporters at the launch. "ITV1 brings people together and connects an audience otherwise splintered by a multitude of choice."...
- 7/20/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- ITV on Tuesday attempted to play down the significance of an attack made by director of programs Nigel Pickard as he defended failing ITV summer shows Celebrity Love Island and Celebrity Wrestling. Network representatives dismissed an interview he gave to the Media Guardian Web site as "overblown" and backed Pickard's claim that he was not under pressure to quit. An exasperated Pickard told the Web site that he did not believe ITV's credibility was undermined by "two poxy shows" and said that Love Island had received a "disproportionate amount of attention."...
LONDON -- ITV program head Nigel Pickard scored a major victory over the BBC on Tuesday, winning rights to air the second and third Harry Potter films as part of a major multimillion-dollar deal signed with Warner Bros. International Television president Jeffrey Schlesinger. The announced deal -- ITV's first major movie signing in more than three years -- sees it secure rights to movies from Warners' theatrical slates for 2003, '04 and '05 and is topped by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Other titles include The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, The Last Samurai, Troy and Ocean's Eleven as well as the upcoming releases of Ocean's Twelve, The Polar Express and Alexander and such library titles as Unforgiven, The Fugitive, The Matrix and Wild Wild West.
- 9/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Commercial broadcaster ITV unveiled details of its fall schedule Monday in a low-key launch that dispensed with the traditional news conference and season preview. Head of programs Nigel Pickard outlined a season that will see terrestrial premieres for several movies, including Die Another Day, About a Boy, American Pie and The Mummy Returns. ITV's new Saturday night light-entertainment format will be The X-Factor, which sees pop show veterans Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh choosing and creating a successful singing act, with the twist that the wannabe chart toppers will be drawn from singers of all ages -- and even bands will be considered.
LONDON -- Veteran British journalist and talk show host Michael Parkinson has been lured from the BBC to rival broadcaster ITV, the network said Monday. The deal means the long-standing Saturday-night primetime chat show Parkinson will switch to ITV1 exclusively for two years beginning in the fall. "Television stars don't come much bigger than Michael Parkinson, and I am delighted that he is joining us at ITV," ITV director of programs Nigel Pickard said. "There's no doubt that he is the very best in his field and will be a fantastic addition to ITV's Saturday nights." Such guests as Nelson Mandela, Orson Welles, Muhammad Ali, Paul McCartney and Shirley MacLaine have joined Parkinson on his show.
- 4/27/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Following a brief hiatus at the BBC, director Michael Apted's "Up" documentary series charting the lives of ordinary people every seven years is set to return to ITV, ITV network center director Nigel Pickard said Wednesday. First shown in 1963, Seven Up was made by ITV powerhouse Granada and has become a lifelong work for Apted (The World Is Not Enough, Gorillas in the Mist). Its most recent outing -- 42 Up -- was shown by the BBC but is returning to an ITV that has said it is keen to demonstrate its commitment to documentaries, news and current affairs. "It's great timing because it will form part of our 50th anniversary in 2005," Pickard said. "To have quality documentary strands in the schedule is important."...
LONDON -- In his first major move since joining ITV as head of programs, Nigel Pickard on Monday canceled the Carlton-produced daytime soap Crossroads, one of the network's biggest commissions. ITV still will have to honor the terms of the original 240-episode contract, paying Carlton and Crossroads staff for the full run despite cutting short the one-year production contract and reducing the order to 98 episodes, according to sources close to the negotiations. The final episode will air in the summer. The five-evenings-a-week soap airs in the key teen-oriented 5 p.m. slot, but has struggled since being resurrected three years ago from an abandoned 1980s format by former Carlton Prods. head Waheed Alli. Pickard's decision to drop Crossroads follows by just three months the series' raunchy revamp and cast overhaul in a bid to woo viewers.
- 3/11/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As ITV shareholders Carlton and Granada announced long-awaited merger terms Wednesday, the network moved to end the uncertainty that has plagued it in recent months by naming BBC head of children's programming Nigel Pickard as director of programs. Pickard was head of children's entertainment at ITV before joining the BBC in 2000. He replaces highly regarded outgoing ITV program controller David Liddiment, who announced his departure in May. The appointment of Pickard to one of the highest-profile posts in British TV comes as a surprise to the industry, with some voices questioning Pickard's depth of experience in the areas of mainstream program production, event program scheduling and drama commissioning, which are crucial to ITV's survival. The network has lost 12% in audience share in the past 12 months and suffered the effects of a damaging advertising recession.
- 10/17/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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