Stefano Hatfield: Ten gems of London life

A series of short films will celebrate the city’s chaos, characters and communities
12 February 2014

Six months ago, before London Live had its own branding, studios or even staff, we went public for the first time in the Standard asking for entries to a short film competition run in association with the independent film-maker community The Smalls.

Now, the new channel has commissioned 10 short documentaries on the “Secret London” theme from the exciting entries received via The Smalls Pitch Room. The films will air in the spring once the channel has gone live on March 31.

Chosen from an overwhelming response, the 10 selected films each get underneath the skin of an aspect of London life that most of us don’t know exists. We were looking for stories that really celebrated the city’s chaos, characters and communities.

The winning films include a wide range of documentary styles including subjects such as Saul, Hampstead Heath’s 80-year-old tree climber; animated encounters with London’s urban foxes; African food in south London and the street artist who creates miniature public street sculptures welded to posts in east London.

Kate Tancred, managing director of The Smalls, says: “The Smalls is committed to democratising the pitching process, offering commissioners the opportunity to cast a wider net and allowing film-makers to have their ideas heard. It was a pleasure to partner with London Live on this fantastic opportunity. We had the wonderful job of sifting through all the amazing stories of our city submitted and are delighted will the final 10 chosen.”

Derren Lawford, the London Live commissioning executive with responsibility for the short film strand, added: “London Live is committed to supporting and showcasing the freshest young talent the capital has to offer and we have been overwhelmed by the volume and quality of the response from up- and-coming documentary makers. Our city is one of the most diverse, unique and creative in the world and the final shortlist of 10 films embodies this while revealing some of the extraordinary stories hidden in London’s streets.”

The films can be seen on all London Live’s multi-channel platforms within the broadcast area of 4.3 million homes (and up to nine million viewers). It will also be streamed on the soon-to-be-launched Londonlive.co.uk anywhere in Britain.

Bear with this fair cop show

So, what did you make of Babylon, the new Danny Boyle police comedy-drama starring James Nesbitt as the Met Commissioner and Brit Marling as the PR expert drafted in from Instagram to introduce some “360-degree thinking” to the force’s communications efforts?

It was obvious, watching it with one eye on the TV and one eye on Twitter (as is the modern way), that many viewers didn’t quite know what to make of it, or they were waiting for other people to jump in with an opinion before piling in with one of their own. I suppose that’s why television commissioning editors get paid the big bucks.

The trouble with comedy-dramas is they can end up being neither funny nor dramatic enough. Babylon clearly intended to be the former, with varying degrees of success, but the latter was hindered largely by the show being just too long (at 95 minutes).

Nesbitt and Marling were hugely watchable, as were some of the minor characters like her creepy deputy (Bertie Carvel), but it’s difficult to portray a goonish cop both accurately and for laughs, so Adam Deacon’s Robbie was predictably problematic.

This pilot has already won its writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong a series, in which — hopefully — the episode lengths will be shorter.

Their past credit as writers on The Thick of It was evident in the subversive delight they found in the arcane horrors of police and PR procedures. However, it’s difficult to be laughing one moment and then watching a suspect being gunned down by several officers the next.

It’s to everyone’s credit — from Channel 4 to Boyle to the writers — that they created something that was a little rough around the edges and not quite perfect. It’s a cliché that you have to be allowed the freedom to fail but it’s a cliché because there’s truth in it. I’d stake a good wager on the forthcoming series being much tighter-scripted; funny, dramatic and moving.

A werewolf heartthrob clocks in at Cuckoo

Sometimes you hear a piece of casting news that makes you reach for the iPhone to check that it’s not April Fools Day already. One such moment was the announcement this week that Taylor Lautner, the Twilight heartthrob, was to join the cast of the BBC3 sitcom Cuckoo. He will play a mysterious young stranger who turns up out of the blue in Lichfield, Staffordshire, where the show, which stars Greg Davies and Helen Baxendale is set. To think there were worries about the show’s future when its former star — the somewhat-geekier Andy Samberg — quit after series one.

Now Lautner, who played werewolf Jacob Black in the Twilight series and was once the highest-paid teenage actor in Hollywood, has stepped in to ensure that there will be a huge buzz about it, not to mention a vast audience of teenage girls. Already BBC3’s highest-rated comedy, Cuckoo will now be one of the comedy events of the year — unless, of course, you remain steadfastly “Team Edward”.

Want to get involved with shaping London Live and the Evening Standard itself? Sign up for the London Views panel. We will ask your opinions up to a couple of times a month — there are rewards for taking part. Go to LondonViews.org to learn more.

Stefano Hatfield is editorial director of London Live. Stefano.hatfield@londonlive.co.uk; Twitter: @stefanohat

London Live launches in spring 2014 on Freeview 8, Sky 117, Virgin 159, mobile, web, taxis and outdoor media. Twitter: @LondonLive

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