Caroline Dinenage: Last News

The UK’s film and high-end TV industries are to be examined in depth by an influential parliamentary committee, with hot-button issues including AI and struggling cinema chains sitting atop the agenda.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here taking you through what has been a whirlwind of a week in international TV and film. Do not stop here — please do read on. And sign up here.

UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been told to use his forthcoming Spring budget to make an “urgent intervention” to support the UK indie film sector in a letter published by Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the influential Culture, Media and Sport Committee. 

10 per cent of the UK’s smaller venues close by the end of 2023.The plans for the new review were shared by DCMS Select Committee Chair Caroline Dinenage MP, and a full report of its findings will be published next year. Dinenage has also confirmed that a call for evidence will be made in the near future with written submissions invited.It will further see witnesses called to parliament, to enable the committee to understand the current crisis and make recommendations to all stakeholders on how to address it.“One of the pillars during my campaign to become the Chair of the DCMS Select Committee was to say that we need to do a full review of grassroots music venues in the UK, the challenges that they are facing, but also what the opportunities are and what more we can do to support them.

A review into how ITV handled Phillip Schofield’s behaviour has reportedly been delayed until later this year, despite it originally being expected to be published this month. The This Morning star, 61, stepped down from his role before resigning from all ITV presenting duties after admitting to having an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger male former colleague.The incident led to further allegations of there being a ‘toxic’ culture at This Morning, with TV medic Dr Ranj Singh and Eamonn Holmes among those speaking out against the show.

Russell Brand has called for financial support on Rumble after YouTube suspended monetisation on his channel.The platform demonetised his channel earlier this month following rape and sexual assault allegations against him between 2006 and 2013. Brand has denied the allegations.In a livestream on Rumble (September 25) titled “Are we being silenced? The battle for free speech”, the comedian urged his followers to support his “independent voice” directly.

Several major companies have pulled advertising from Rumble, the video platform that hosts Russell Brand’s broadcasts, in light of sexual assault allegations against the British comedian.

Channel 4 says it's 'appalled to learn' of allegations against comedian and actor Russell Brand, calling them 'deeply troubling'.

In June, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall faced questions from MPs about former host Phillip Schofield’s exit from the show amid allegations that the programme was fostering a bullying culture that had been described as toxic. In correspondence published on Wednesday, Dame Caroline Dinenage, chairwoman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told Dame Carolyn that a group of This Morning employees past and present had since raised similar claims to Parliament.

More individuals have raised concerns over toxic working cultures, bullying, discrimination and harassment on This Morning since ITV bosses appeared for a grilling over the Phillip Schofield saga, the UK Committee reviewing it has said.

K.J. Yossman ITV’s evidence during a parliamentary inquiry into the Phillip Schofield scandal has been branded “inconsistent” and “contradictory,” letters reveal today.

The UK’s influential Culture, Media & Sport Committee has written to both the BBC and The Sun over investigations into Huw Edwards and Dan Wootton.

Naman Ramachandran In the aftermath of the Huw Edwards matter, where the top BBC presenter was accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs, a U.K. parliamentary inquiry has demanded further information from the corporation and Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun. The Sun broke the news that a then unnamed anchor, subsequently revealed as Edwards, had been taken off air while the BBC investigated allegations he had paid a teenager over £35,000 ($44,500) in exchange for explicit photographs since they were 17. On Tuesday, the U.K. House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee wrote to The Sun editor Victoria Newton asking about editorial procedures and details about the newspaper’s story verification and decision-making processes and to Elan Cross Stephens, acting BBC chair, requesting further details about the reviews into wider BBC processes the corporation is carrying out in light of the allegations and its plans to publish the findings.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Amazon has said its investments have contributed £4.8 billion ($6.1 billion) of gross value — and 16,000 jobs — to the U.K. economy since 2010. This covers the gamut of the online retail giant’s various subsidiaries, including Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon Publishing, Prime Video, Audible, Amazon Fashion, Amazon Music and Amazon Games, among others. Overall, the company — which revealed the figures on Wednesday — has invested more than £4.2 billion in U.K. creative industries since 2010, and has doubled its investment since 2018. As Prime Video continues to embed in the U.K. creative sector, it can also count the British Film Institute as its next stop. A number of the streamer’s U.K.-shot originals, including “Good Omens” and “Clarkson’s Farm,” will be digitally preserved in the BFI National Archive as part of a new partnership. The Prime Video deal comes almost a year after Netflix reached a similar agreement to induct some of its own originals into the celebrated archive. That deal was struck in September, Variety understands.

“Imbalances of power are dangerous and we care about them,” BBC Director General Tim Davie said today, as he was questioned on the Phillip Schofield debate and accusations of toxicity on This Morning.

Phillip Schofield has broken his silence and revealed his sadness over the reports and rumours circulating about him after admitting to an affair with a much younger man while still married to his wife. Particularly keen to clarify the timeline of events, he revealed in a new interview that he first met the man when he visited the theatre academy he was a patron of.The man began working as a runner on This Morning in 2016 after receiving career advice from Phil and doing work experience at the show in 2015.

ITV boss Carolyn McCall will face a grilling from the UK’s influential Culture, Media and Sport Committee (CMS) next week over the Phillip Schofield scandal.

ITV has hired a leading employment lawyer to conduct an investigation into Phillip Schofield's departure from This Morning, and the scandal that followed his admittance to an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a much younger colleague. A letter from ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall to the head of Ofcom and Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, obtained by the PA news agency, sees Carolyn write that Jane Mulcahy KC will "carry out an external review of the facts." It comes after ITV revealed it had investigated rumours of the relationship three years ago but was lied to by Phillip and didn't find any evidence of a relationship "beyond hearsay and rumour." Here is the letter from Dame Carolyn McCall to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, DCMS Committee chairwoman, Dame Caroline Dinenage, and Ofcom chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, in full: "Dear Lucy, Dame Caroline, and Dame Melanie, "You will have seen the significant media coverage concerning Phillip Schofield.

UK culture minister Caroline Dinenage yesterday confirmed that she had hosted a roundtable discussion focused on bullying, harassment and discrimination within the British creative industries, and how those industries can tackle and end such conduct.The discussion was prompted by a previous meeting between ministers at the UK’s Department For Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and singer, songwriter and former ‘X Factor’ runner-up Rebecca Ferguson, who has made numerous posts to social media in recent months criticising music industry practices, while also calling for managers and agents in the entertainment industry to be regulated.The roundtable involved representatives from the music, fashion, film and TV industries.DCMS says that those

Brexit touring fiasco.The government’s failure to negotiate visa-free travel and Europe-wide work permits for musicians and crew has sparked fears that artists will face huge costs to future live music tours of the continent which could create a glass ceiling that prevents rising and developing artists from being able to afford to do so.It is also warned that thousands of jobs and millions in income for crew, haulage and production will also be lost to the EU.When questioned by MPs last month, Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage was criticised  for the government’s lack of inaction in not already renegotiating terms for future touring with EU member states or for measuring the potential damage that Brexit could have on the UK’s £111billion

‘The future of UK music festivals’ inquiry began back in January and was first announced back in November following a devastating year for the music festival sector in the UK as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.The inquiry is taking place as uncertainty continues to prevail over the fate of the UK’s festival season in 2021 due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, and an opening hearing back in January saw talks from the organisers of Parklife and Boomtown.A press release for this week’s meeting said: “The DCMS Committee will question Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage on the Government’s plans to support the reopening of the festivals sector this summer.“The closing session of the inquiry into the future of UK music festivals will