A weekend of watching TV (well almost)

If, dear reader you are still reading this (well done) and you have read it for any length of time (again well done but also why),  you might remember that a good few years ago now Dad and I went to the BFI for a weekend to enjoy the first Radio Times Festival. Well this week we returned (they don’t do it every year) for a weekend celebrating all sorts of British television.

Our first panel was a fascinating chat about ‘Vera’ with the creator and lead actress which made for a really interesting conversation and dynamic and made me want to go back and watch more of the series, having not really kept up with it. Our next panel though was a total mystery to us both, as it was about a series called ‘Unforgotten’ (an ideas?) but we were interested to hear the people involved talk, particularly as Sanjeev Bhaskar has been in Who (what a surprise, and yes dear reader we did speak to him after). Despite a busy schedule we didn’t always have events back to back so were able to enjoy being on the Southbank for a few hours before a fascinating in conversation with Josh O’Connor who seems very much to be up and coming. One of the big events of the festival was the first screen of Russell T. Davies new drama ‘Years and Years’ in the IMAX. Watching it in there was something in itself, but the drama was brilliant (as you’d expect from him), followed by a panel with most of the cast, although Anne Reid was the most entertaining talker. Our day came to an end with a quick dash back to the BFI for a talk about ‘Inside Number 9’ which just seems to be more popular ever year. Unsurprisingly, after a busy day, heading back to the hotel was very much welcome.

After a busy Saturday, Sunday was much the same, but with a slightly quieter start. Our first panel wasn’t until lunchtime which was nice. Rather than sitting in on a panel of something that had totally passed us by, our first panel of the day was for a series due to come out, ‘Gentleman Jack’ featuring Suranne Jones who is always great to listen to. Again, it was the lead and the creator who also knew each other very well so it made for a very passionate panel about a series that I think both Dad and I will be watching. Rather last minute we managed to get tickets for the ‘Taskmasters’ panel (if you haven’t seen any of this series do, it’s brilliantly daft). Greg Davies was on fine form and was absolutely hilarious to say the least. Another big event of the day was a preview of the new ‘Dad’s Army’ episodes, which I have to say really got he essence of the original show and stood up well in comparison to the classics. Our final panel was a slightly break with the res to the weekend as it was a book talk, well from an actress who’s done lots. Having booked it on the basis that Zawe Ashton had done Who I was a little surprised to find myself quite so interested in the talk, but she was very passionate and fascinating to listen to. Afterwards she was signing copies of her book (despite the fact that it had sold out), so Dad and I were able to have a chat with her which made for a great end to the weekend. After a very busy but enjoyable weekend, listening to a range or people talk about all sorts of TV we headed back (rather knackered if I’m honest), bumping into Helen Mirror as we left (as you do).