The RTS Podcast

The 2026 edition of the RTS’ annual TV Predictions event saw our panel of leading business brains give us the inside track on the year ahead. How healthy is the ad market? What are commissioners’ budgets looking like for the year? What will be the impact of all the big M&A action? Is there still room for creative experimentation? Will the AI bubble burst? And will we soon all be watching YouTube on our TVs, and TV on YouTube?Gazing into their crystal balls were Jonathan Allan, Interim CEO of Channel 4; Ash Atalla, CEO of RoughCut; Ruth Berry, President of Global Partnerships & Zoo 55 at ITV Studios; Fiona Campbell, Interim Director of Unscripted for BBC Content and Evan Shapīro, Media Universe Cartographer.Chaired by Katie Razzall, Culture and Media Editor at the BBC.See what's coming up next at the RTS on our website: rts.org.uk

In this episode of the RTS Podcast, catch up on our exclusive Q&A with Showtrial creator Ben Richards and cast members Adeel Akhtar, Nathalie Armin, and Michael Socha. They discuss the return of the acclaimed anthology drama, the freedom of using the courtroom format, and their experiences working together on the second series. Series two delves into a new hotly-contested murder trial that captivates the nation and unfolds in the glaring spotlight of media scrutiny.You can watch Showtrial on BBC One and iPlayer.

Every year there are TV shows that cut through the noise and grab everyone’s attention, but in this year of political chaos, with three Prime Ministers in three months, one show in particular proved to be an evergreen viral hit, despite last airing ten years ago - Armando Iannucci's biting political satire, The Thick Of It. To celebrate ten years since the final series of The Thick Of It last aired, we sat down with creator Armando Iannucci, actors Rebecca Front and Joanna Scanlan, and writers Simon Blackwell and Ian Martin, as they discuss how the series came to be, reveal how it was received in the political world and discover how storylines in the series strangely seemed to predict the future... This episode contains explicit material. 

On 22nd November, the RTS held an exclusive screening of ITV's new drama Litvinenko, which looks at the police investigation into the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in the centre of London back in 2006. In a Q&A hosted by Boyd Hilton, Alexander’s wife Marina Litvinenko was joined by co-producer Richard Kerbaj and director Jim Field Smith to discuss the making of the series.In their discussion they speak about finding the right cast and the responsibility of making a series based on real people and events. Marina also gives her first-hand experience of the events surrounding her husband's death. Livinenko starts on Thursday 15th December on ITVX, starring David Tennant, Margarita Levieva, Mark Bonnar and Neil Maskell.  

On the 7th December, the BBC’s Director General, Tim Davie, gave a speech to the RTS about the future of the media industry and the role of public service broadcasters, particularly the BBC, within that. Speaking 100 years and 27 days since the BBC’s first ever broadcast, Davie set out his stall for an internet-only BBC, arguing that the broadcaster could become a world-leading pioneer as the first digitally led public service media company of scale.  After his speech, Davie sat down with Theresa Wise, Chief Executive of the Royal Television Society for a Q&A session, in which he discussed what he thinks an internet-only BBC could look like. 

Two of the Horrible Histories troupe, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond, joined us with UKTV on Tuesday 15 November at Curzon Hoxton to talk all things alien, human and their new Dave comedy, We Are Not Alone. And chairing the chat was none other than their fellow Ghosts star Lolly Adefope!You can watch We Are Not Alone on UKTV Play now: https://uktvplay.co.uk/shows/we-are-not-alone/watch-online 

Our new official podcast gets off to a special start, as we hear from all three of the Breakthrough Award nominees at this year’s RTS Programme Awards.Anjana Vasan (0:53) discusses why silliness is so important in We Are Lady Parts and reveals her funniest moments on set, Callum Scott Howells (26:56) talks life in the Valleys, finding his character in It’s A Sin and the virtue of mid-shoot clubbing, and our winner Adjani Salmon (54:40) debunks the myth of overnight success after a five year mission developing Dreaming Whilst Black, and tells us why commissioners should be looking to the internet to discover new talent.