大象传媒

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22.08.03

大象传媒 FOUR

All the world's a stage this autumn on 大象传媒 FOUR

Press pack available

大象传媒 FOUR promises a wealth of surprises this autumn as it travels the globe, uncovering the intriguing, entertaining and sometimes disturbing aspects of British and world culture.

大象传媒 FOUR Controller Roly Keating says: "This season on 大象传媒 FOUR truly marks the channel's coming of age, offering up the richest and most diverse mix of programmes to date.

"大象传媒 FOUR is all about doing things differently and this season sees a television first as The Globe Theatre in London allows the channel unprecedented access to a live production of Richard II starring Mark Rylance.

"As well as capturing the unique atmosphere of Shakespearean theatre, interactivity will enable viewers to access a full online commentary and programme notes."

Private lives of individuals and institutions come under the spotlight this season, from a snapshot of a year in the life of one of Britain's greatest institutions, The National Trust, to a fascinating exploration into what inspires some of the quirkiest artists of today in Art Safari.

大象传媒 FOUR hears personal stories of triumph over adversity in a major documentary on the history of black footballers, Black Flash, and finds out how a lowly assistant on the set of The Prince & The Showgirl got intimate with the film's leading lady, Marilyn Monroe, in The Prince, The Showgirl and Me.

This autumn 大象传媒 FOUR also looks at travel with a difference.

Following the success of Holidays in the Axis of Evil, author Simon Reeve - one of the first people to warn the world of the threat of Al Qaeda five years before September 11th 2001 - takes an intrepid journey into the former Soviet countries "the Stans" in Holidays in the Danger Zone.

These are countries that rarely get talked about but which Simon shows to be both hotbeds of vice, tyranny and potential terrorism, but also full of fascinating and hospitable people.

Along with Richard II - Live from The Globe, a strong slate of performance this autumn includes a look at one of the UK's iconic living writers, JG Ballard, featuring a brand new powerful and disturbing piece about the degeneration of a man who shuts himself off from the world, called Home, starring Anthony Sher.

And 大象传媒 FOUR celebrates the 25th anniversary of the dance festival, Dance Umbrella, with a week of programmes that will be a feast for lovers of contemporary dance.

Intelligent comedy is very much part of the make-up of 大象传媒 FOUR.

This Autumn cult Golden Globe winning comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, starring the irascible Larry David, is back for a new series while the erudite Mark Steel follows his successful pilot last year with a whole series of Mark Steel Lectures.

In the series he brings to life the ideas of Aristotle, Darwin, Newton, Byron, Freud and Marx in a way that only Mark can do.

And 大象传媒 FOUR goes angling in Rich Hall's Fishing Show, as comedian Rich Hall takes on the role of cultural commentator on life, garnering the support of famous people such as Germaine Greer, and bizarrely all done from a fishing boat in the Trossachs in Scotland!

Other season highlights include:

声 Citizen Alec. Unprecedented access was given to writer and filmmaker Darragh MacIntyre as he spent an entire year in the office of the controversial first Sinn Fein major of Belfast, Alec Maskey;

声 International films. 大象传媒 FOUR continues its commitment to international cinema with more television and free-to-air premieres including the massive hit Amores Perros, the raunchy Le Libertin, the disturbing Time Out and the touching Etre Et Avoir which has been a recent hit at cinemas across the UK;

声 Hollywood Composers. In a unique combination of music and cinema, Leonard Slatkin goes back to his Los Angeles roots to tell the fascinating stories of two of the greatest composers of Hollywood's Golden Age - Korngold and R贸zsa. 大象传媒 FOUR will also show the classic movies Deception and Spellbound, for which they composed the scores;

声 Heroes & Villains with Gerald Scarfe. From Posh and Becks to John Logie Baird, master caricaturist Gerald Scarfe produces portraits of 35 British icons to hang alongside their original portraits in The National Gallery. 大象传媒 Four charts Scarfe's progress.

Returning series and strands such as Storyville, Time Shift and the DVD Collection all continue this Autumn on 大象传媒 FOUR.

Roly Keating commented: "As 大象传媒 FOUR approaches its 18 month anniversary, its share of audience in multichannel homes over the past eight weeks has more than doubled that of the same period last year and with a 75% increase in reach - a strong indication that more people are discovering and enjoying what the channel has to offer, which augurs wells for this rich autumn season."

Notes to Editors

声 Reach and share for the past eight weeks are 6% reach (1.7million people per week) and 0.4% share.

This is an increase of +75% reach compared with the same eight week period last year and is over double in terms of share and volume.

声 On average 1.4 million viewers have been sampling 大象传媒 FOUR each week in 2003 so far - with a peak of nearly 2.5 million people in late June (when the channel got best ever reach of 9.0% and share of 0.6%).

声 There are currently 130 multichannels to watch in digital homes and, among these, 大象传媒 FOUR is in 22nd place. The 21 other channels are all mainstream and predominantly entertainment/ drama focussed.

Notes to Editors

The 大象传媒 FOUR autumn press pack is available below in , as a complete pack or in sections.

You may require Adobe Acrobat Software to read PDF files which can be obtained .

Tip for users: when in the PDF files use the "Zoom In" tool to magnify the text.

Full 大象传媒 Four autumn press pack (549 KB)

Intimate Views (80 KB)

Mid-Life Crises (64 KB)

Alternative Histories (83 KB)

Unusual Minds (55 KB)

Global Extremes (93 KB)

New Stages (84 KB)

Heroes and Villains (72 KB)

Notes to Picture Editors

Pictures are available on the 大象传媒's digital picture service "specials folder".

Related releases

大象传媒 FOUR celebrates first birthday with its 12 millionth viewer and record number of RTS nominations (27.02.03)

Culture, controversy and cutting edge documentary: 大象传媒 FOUR prepares to launch (14.02.02)

Freeview offers the 大象传媒's eight television channels, interactive services from 大象传媒i, as well as 11 大象传媒 radio networks.

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