News Broadcasting
BBC Interactive looking for writers to create new sitcom ‘Cleaners’
BBCi has announced that aspiring writers can apply to become a part of a six member team that will create Cleaners, a sitcom to be developed exclusively over the internet, through BBCi.
An official release says that for the first time the whole process – from the initial plot outline to the final draft – will be available for public viewing. The format has been developed by the BBC’s television comedy development unit and the storyline will rotate around a group of late-night office cleaners.
The six writers selected will work at a virtual writers’ table, viewable by everyone but accessible only to the writers. As the writers discuss characterisations, storylines and make decisions on their individual roles within the group, BBCi users can log on to www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom and tune in to the conversations.
Users can even be part of the process by adding their comments and ideas and on a weekly basis chat with one of the writers. The release states that the British broadcaster views the initiative as an opportunity to see something evolve as well as providing educational value and an insight into how an idea is turned into a fully fledged project.
Under the guidance of the BBC development staff, the writers will produce an episode of Cleaners, which when completed, will be read out and streamed via BBCi by actors, therefore completing the process. The successful writers will be announced on 2 August and the scheme is due to end in mid-November.
BBCi is the name for the BBC’s interactive services working across the web, digital television and hand held mobile devices, providing a single signpost and easier way of getting to the BBC’s great information, entertainment and education services.
News Broadcasting
Uma Sudhir signs off from NDTV after 27 years
The executive editor shaped NDTV’s southern reportage for nearly three decades
NEW DELHI: Senior journalist Uma Sudhir has retired from NDTV, bringing to a close a 27-year association with the network.
Sudhir served as executive editor, heading NDTV’s south India editorial operations. Over nearly three decades, she emerged as one of the most recognisable faces of on-ground reporting from the region, with sustained coverage of politics, governance and social issues across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
At NDTV, Sudhir played a central role in strengthening regional journalism within national television news. Her reporting consistently connected local developments to the national conversation, ensuring stories from the field shaped policy debates beyond studio discussions. Known for her boots-on-the-ground approach, she came to represent a generation of reporters whose authority rested on fieldwork rather than prime-time punditry.
An award-winning journalist, Sudhir is a recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award and the Chameli Devi Jain Award. Her body of work has been widely recognised for its public-interest focus, spanning elections, governance, gender issues, rural distress, environmental reporting and social justice.
