21^st Century Soap – Thunder Road

An evening with award-winning writer/director John Godber and members of the production team behind BBC Interactive Drama and Entertainment's innovative iTV soap opera Thunder Road.

            John Godber, Playwright, Writer/Director of Thunder Road

            Gabriel Gilson, Content Producer, BBC Interactive Drama and Entertainment

            Nick Copus, Producer/Co-director of Thunder Road

            Helen Thomas, Executive Editor, BBC Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

Devised for digital cable and broadband internet, Thunder Road charts a momentous month in the life of a working men's club in Hull, as it's ragbag staff of unlikely heroes struggle to stop the club falling into the clutches of a predatory property developer. In this evening seminar at the TAPS London Writers' Festival, the production team talk about how they created, developed, filmed and broadcast a ground-breaking interactive version of the soap opera genre, fit for the 21^st century.

The show was broadcast in Hull as 30 three-minute episodes over 30 days, with additional hours of documentary and video diary footage available as interactive enhancements on the Kingston cable TV channel and the BBCi Humber website. Local viewers identified closely with the show and interacted with it enthusiastically, sending thousands of emails and editing their own versions of the film.

Drinks will be served following the talk.

John Godber
John Godber became Artistic Director at Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1984. He is also an actor, director and writer, whose many theatre plays include Bouncers, Up’n’Under and On the Piste. For TV, he wrote Bloomin’ Marvellous and My Kingdom for a Horse, and contributed numerous episodes of Brookside and Grange Hill. In 1998 he adapted and directed a successful film version of Up’n’Under.

Gabriel Gilson
As Interactive Producer of Thunder Road, Gabriel Gilson created the video portal which ran on the
KIT platform in Hull. Working closely with the coder and the drama director, he was responsible for translating the project into a working application. During the live run, he produced daily updates, and later helped translate the material to web and DVD.

Nick Copus
Nick Copus joined BBC Fictionlab in 1998, where he made a number of 30 minute films, including Boy in Darkness, Caravan and Safe House. During 2001 and 2002 he produced and co-directed Thunder Road, as well as writing, producing and directing two RTS-Award-winning films for BBC Religion. Earlier this year Nick directed four episodes of EastEnders, and he has recently secured funding in Canada to make his first feature film, for which he has also written the screenplay.

Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas was appointed as Executive Editor, BBC Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, in 2000, and is responsible for integrating the TV, Radio and New Media operations of the BBC in Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk, to create a genuine tri-media operation that creates and re-versions content for television, radio and web audiences. Helen also oversees two innovative BBC initiatives: the broadband to television trial, BBCi Hull, and SoS Teacher, a BBC pilot providing support for GCSE students. She began her career in broadcasting in 1982 as a trainee journalist, before moving to the BBC as a producer, presenter and reporter in 1985. After taking time out from her career to have children, Helen joined Yorkshire Television in 1990, before moving to York in 1994 to run radio newsrooms for a local broadcaster.

Links

Guardian article on Thunder Road, December 2002: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,852232,00.html

The Creative Alchemy programme of seminars on the development of content for interactive digital media is a joint season presented by BAFTA and NMK and produced by Stephen Jeffery-Poulter.

Presented in association with:

TAPS London Writers Festival
Contact taps@tvarts.demon.co.uk

BAFTA (www.bafta.org)

This event is supported by:

Business Link for London (www.bl4london.com)

Report on the event.