‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ Doc Greenlit By ITV; Series Mania Jury; Sky Deutschland Dramas; James Franco Project; Viaplay Orders

Sir Rod Stewart is no stranger to charity work and helping others in need. His most recent act of kindness has seen him foot the bill of more hospital scans across the country in a bid to reduce NHS waiting lists.

As Saturday Night Takeaway got underway once again this week, viewers at home were left complaining mere moments into the show, as they struggled to understand what this week’s guest announcer was saying. The popular ITV entertainment show kicked off with guest announcer Big Zuu, who promptly introduced fans at home to iconic Geordie duo Ant and Dec. However not everyone was keen on his unique voice, with many even questioning who the star was in the first place.

A Scots couple have bagged themselves a place on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Plane to Universal Orlando Resort. Each week, members of the studio audience and those at home are randomly selected to pack their bags to join the boys for a dream holiday in Florida.

Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly have found themselves in hot water after their Saturday Night Takeaway return was slapped with official complaints. The Geordie duo delighted fans with the comeback of their hit ITV show on Saturday night (February 25).

The Northern Lights have returned to skies above large swathes of Scotland tonight (Monday, Fenbruary 27), for the second night running.

Despite Ant and Dec's highly anticipated return to the small screen with Saturday Night Takeaway, ITV viewers were left less than impressed with Declan Donnelly's "inappropriate" remarks on the show over the weekend.

Think of Miami in Florida and you conjure up long stretches of sand and the Art Deco backdrop of Ocean drive. But whisk yourself over the 2.8-mile long MacArthur bridge and you enter downtown Miami. With soaring skyscrapers, stylish hotels, rooftop pools and impeccable dining options, it’s glamorous and cosmopolitan, offering a hip, urban vibe in contrast to the sun-scorched streets of Miami Beach.Temperatures hit 25°C from November to March before the mercury soars to more sweltering levels, making the city – recently dubbed US capital of cool by Time magazine – a good option for a late spring break.

Rod Stewart visited his local NHS hospital in Harlow, Essex yesterday (February 24) and paid for a day’s worth of MRI scans to help reduce the waiting lists.The artist said he wanted to prove that he wasn’t “all mouth and no trousers” amid his recent comments about the state of the NHS. He also said he wanted to pay for scans elsewhere in the UK.According to the Princess Alexandra Hospital’s chief operating officer, Stephanie Lawton, Stewart’s donation cut their waiting list for MRI scans by 10 per cent.

‘The Woman King’ & ‘Aftersun’ Dominate Girls On Film AwardsThe Woman King and Aftersun dominated the main awards at the second annual Girls On Film Awards. The Woman King picked up Best Ensemble, sponsored by Netflix, and Best Female Friendship On Screen. Woman King star Viola Davis was also awarded the Feminist Superhero award. Woman King lead Sheila Atim was there in person to accept the awards. Aftersun nabbed Best Feature Film Sponsored by EON Productions, while the film’s publicity team also won Best Publicity Campaign. Other big winners included Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder, which took home Best Cinematography and the Sinéad O’Connor pic Nothing Compares (Best Documentary). Nominees for the awards were chosen by a selection of critics and journalists. Girls On Film was launched by Deadline critic and broadcaster Anna Smith and producer Hedda Archbold with the aim of rewarding excellence in the field of feminism, inclusion, and diversity in cinema. Check out the full winners on the Girl On Film Twitter account.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO, HBO and HBO Max Content will deliver a keynote at Series Mania’s Lille Dialogues whose one-day summit looks set to take the pulse on a global content industry as content investment flattens and ask how to build a more responsible industry in the future. Marking an early opportunity to hear from streaming platforms after both Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney have announced multi-billion dollar cuts in content investment, the Lille Dialogues also count on a keynote from James Farrell, head of local originals, Prime Video. Further keynotes will be delivered by top execs at France’s biggest free-to-air service, TF1, as well as its energetic public broadcaster France Télévisions and Europe’s biggest pay TV operator, Sky. Jan Mojto, CEO, Beta Film, can be expected to deliver a wide-angled vision of how stories made in Europe can find a market worldwide.

When Laurence Herszberg first launched Series Mania back in 2010 in Paris, the former Forum des Images director was keen to apply her deep knowledge of film and the film festival model to the television sector. At the time, says the French exec, no one was doing any kind of TV festival “solely dedicated to series.”  

The demo tape which launched the career of rock legend Sir Rod Stewart's fetched £3,400 at auction today - triple its estimate.

Berlinale Series Market’s annual project pitching event, “Tipping Point” walked off Tuesday morning with the Series Mania Award. The prize is an invitation to the production’s team to present again at the industry centrepiece at next month’s Lille-based get-together, the Series Mania Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. “Tipping Point” joins 15 other projects as a sixteenth project presented out of competition in partnership with the Berlinale Co-Production Market.  Set in the extraordinary Svalbard – an archipelago half way between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole, it  turns on a feisty young eco-activist at constant odds with her father, an oil exec, until he is murdered. Teaming with some of his friends to investigate his death, she discovers another man from the one she knew, as she chases a stolen software which could solve climate crisis or destroy the world.

Sean Stewart, the eldest son of Rod Stewart, reportedly married his girlfriend Jody Weintraub in Las Vegas earlier this month. A source told People that the 42-year-old entrepreneur proposed to Jody during a Las Vegas trip on Valentine's Day, and the pair immediately went to the courthouse to tie the knot that same evening. "Sean asked her while they were out to dinner at Catch.

Alexander Stewart is a name you're going to want to get used to.

The UK Government has confirmed that the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) is currently in its pilot phase and is accepting live applications in some pilot local authority areas ahead of a nationwide rollout next week. Energy and Climate Minister Graham Stuart MP said this is helping to “refine the end-to-end user journey before full scheme launch”.

“I think we need to find a way to avoid the U.S. brainwash,” said Newen Connect CEO Rodolphe Buet at this morning’s Berlinale Series Adapting to the Market session.

Berlinale Series Market kicks off Monday as Spanish series “The Snow Girl,” a missing girl suspense thriller produced by Spain’s Atípica Films, has attracted huge heat for Netflix, punching 101.7 million hours watched in its first three weeks. Doing so, it ranked as the streamer’s No. 1 non-English show in the world over Jan. 30 – Feb. 5.  In all, Spain has more shows and movies in Netflix’s all time non-English Top 10s than any other country in the world, seven to France’s two, for example.  Spain, it could be argued, has cracked online. But its drama series industry wants to ring more options. 

The BAFTAs 2023 will take place tonight, and cinephiles around the UK will be buckling down to watch the most prestigious event in the country’s film industry. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of film and the people who bring them to life, not just in the UK but from around the world.

Series Mania’s Forum Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, still one of Series Mania’s industry centerpieces, which in 2023 looks set in many ways to be a bumper edition. Running March 21-23, the Forum hosts ever building industry initiatives at Series Mania, which unspools in Lille, northern France, over March 17-24. 450 projects from 66 countries answered the call for admissions, an all time record, said Francesco Capurro, head of the Series Mania Forum.  “We have more and more projects from outside Europe. An increasing number from Africa: Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria, which is very encouraging, as well as from other big markets outside Europe, like Canada, Turkey, Taiwan, he added.