News Broadcasting
BBC gives Shakespeare a makeover in the UK
MUMBAI: This is an attempt by UK broadcaster BBC One to fulfill its committment to engage and entertain the widest possible audience with Shakespeare’s stories in new and original ways. To this end BBC One has commenced production on four modern adaptations of Shakespeare plays.
Shirley Henderson will play Kate opposite Rufus Sewell’s Petruchio in Sally Wainwright’s version of The Taming of the Shrew. In the new version the vitriolic, aggressive and shrewish, Kate is an opposition MP who is instructed to find herself a husband to make her more electable. The romantic comedy explores the complexities of relationships against a backdrop of glamorous London circles and politics.
Much Ado About Nothing gets a makeover with a television flavour. Actress Sarah Parish plays Beatrice, presenter of a popular early evening regional news show. Her ex-lover and arch enemy Benedick, played by Damian Lewis, is hired as her co-anchor. One of the Bards most famous tragedies Macbeth is transposed to the enclosed and heated world of a top restaurant kitchen.
BBC head of drama series and serials Laura Mackie says, “There have been modern versions of Shakespeare before but these new interpretations remain true to the originals. At the same time, they are unashamedly a very personal take by each writer – our aspiration is that they work on their own terms for a modern audience.”
The BBC is also working with the Shakespeare Schools Festival on a celebration of Shakespeare with a one-off festival night across the UK on 3 July. 10,000 children (aged 11-16) from 400 schools will perform abridged plays in 100 theatres.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
