The Stage

BBC gets the scoop on tabloid life with drama series

Published Tuesday 19 June 2007 at 14:55 by Matthew Hemley

Exclusive: Independent production company Touchpaper Television is developing a major new drama series for BBC1 based around the world of tabloid journalism.

With a working title of Honeygirls, it will look at group of journalists on a fictional newspaper and is being written by Pete Lawson, who penned the Pauline Quirke series Being April.

Lawson has been conducting interviews with a range of journalists in order to understand the tabloid world and what life is like in a newsroom.

He has been asked to write an initial 60-minute script, although a full series has not yet been formally commissioned by the BBC.

Producer Clare Alan from Touchpaper Television said she had started working with Lawson some years ago on a two-part drama about journalists, which had to be abandoned when he was commissioned to write Being April.

She added: “We are delighted to be working with Pete again. He has been talking to journalists from all various tabloid papers in an effort to really get a sense of that world.”

She stressed developments were at very early stages, but said she was hopeful a series would be green lit by the BBC.

Touchpaper Television, part of the RDF Media Group, has previously produced dramas such as The Queen’s Sister for Channel 4 and the Robson Green series Rocket Man for BBC1.

Next week, it starts filming a new ITV1 series called Sold, based around the world of estate agents and starring Kris Marshall.