The BBC Academy Podcast

BBC World Service Newshour presenter James Coomarasamy hosts this talk on World Olympic Dreams, the extraordinary project that followed 29 aspiring Olympians on the road to London 2012. Joining James are Matthew Pinsent and Kevin Bishop. Matthew Pinsent is a four times Olympic gold medallist. Kevin Bishop is the series producer of World Olympic Dreams. In this talk Kevin and Matthew share moments...

Maggi Philbin hosts this masterclass about the the shape of things to come. She is joined by Peter Barron, head of PR at Google, Nick Newman, digital strategist and consultant and former head of BBC Journalism Products within the Future Media department, Daniel Danker general manager of programmes on demand and Peter Cassidy, director at FremantleMedia UK Interactive. Predictions are problematic…b...

Hazel Marshall hosts this masterclass about the skills needed to make it in drama. She is joined by Ruth Caleb, executive producer BBC, Jane Featherstone and Andrew Davies. What does it take to sustain a successful career in the TV industry? Hear from a panel of award winning and highly respected practitioners about how they have maintained their creativity and vision and continued to spot and cre...

What does it take to sustain a successful career in the TV industry? Hear from a panel of award winning and highly respected practitioners about how they have maintained their creativity and vision and continued to spot and create fantastic programmes that resonate with audiences year after year.

Long live the comedy panel show….love them or loathe them audiences never tire of watching them. Mutating from the satirical edge of Have I Got News For You to the anarchy of Celebrity Juice this genre boasts a longevity hard to rival. This session unpicks the appeal of panel shows from the classic formats to the noisy new kids on the block. Our expert panellists, all comedy connoisseurs, reveal t...

Daisy Goodwin hosts this masterclass about the coveted role of a controller. The controllers are Danny Cohen from BBC One, Zai Bennett from BBC Three and Liam Keelan from BBC Daytime.

This session looks at the storytelling and craft skills needed to work across both factual and drama. We hear from a panel of experts how they initially moved from factual to drama, what skills they needed and how their programmes benefit from a multiplicity of storytelling skills. The panel are Colin Barr, My Murder, Alex Holmes, House of Saddam, Jon East, That Summer Day and Hilary Salmon, Maxwe...

Join with leading experts from across the industry to look at how they use social media to great effect with regards to informing content, increasing reach, engaging and interacting with audiences, and building loyalty before, during and after broadcast. The panel are Barry Pilling, founding partner at social production company Telegraph Hill, Stephen Saul, social media producer, Talkback Thames,...

A discussion with those who commission, produce and present on tv about why women are not adequately represented on the screen and what can be done about it. The session will also offer practical tips on how to find and produce female talent. The panel consists of Alison Kirkham, commissioning editor, Features and Formats at BBC Knowledge, Ben Munro Davies, output editor, Channel 4 News, Claire Ri...

Constructed reality shows such as The Only Way is Essex and Made in Chelsea, have become incredibly popular in the last few years. So how do the programme makers influence and piece together real and fictional elements to create this often addictive TV and where is this genre headed? Joining Simon in the studio is Alan Hayling, Patrick Holland, Jonathan Stadlen and Tony Wood.

We hear from producers Andy Brereton, Jamie Ormerod and Tilusha Ghelani, on how the project grew from a one off special as part of Comic Relief to a ten part daytime commission. The team talk us through the process of transforming an already popular show to TV while striving to stay true to the original format.

Hazel Marshall and guests discuss how to write sitcoms. With John Finnemore, Jon Plowman and Tira Shubart. John Finnemore writes and stars in the award winning Cabin Pressure on Radio 4. Tira Shubart wrote the critically acclaimed BBC Two sitcom Taking the Flak. Jon Plowman has an extremely illustrious comedy background, exec producing Absolutely Fabulous, The League of Gentlemen and The Thick of...

Joining Simon Smith in the CoP Show studio to discuss immersive documentaries are Louis Theroux - BAFTA award winning, Emmy nominated and famous for his ability to penetrate intriguing worlds in BBC documentaries such as Wierd Weekends, ‘When Louis Met: Jimmy Savile and his more recent Extreme Love series. Lee Phillips - a BAFTA award winning series producer and director of documentaries lead by D...

The benefits and difficulties of self shooting - an essential part of the job description of assistant producers, directors and researchers. Our War producer/director Stuart Bernard discusses the future of self shooting with Bang Goes the Theory editor Dermot Caulfield, Panorama producer Ken Kirby and resident CoP Show presenter Simon Smith.

Joining Simon Smith to discuss the art of the interview are Bridget Osborne - Bridget is a BBC radio and TV producer who used to be responsible for HARDtalk, Jeremy Phillips - Jeremy is an exec producer on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories at ITV and David Sillito, a BBC arts correspondent.

Music is an essential part of storytelling on screen and on the radio. Get it right and while you might not be consciously aware of its presence, it will nevertheless be playing a significant part in how you perceive the characters and relate to the story. So it's vital directors and producers understand how to work well with composers so they can weave their musical magic over their stories. Join...

With Gareth Gwynn, Laurence Howarth and John Luke Roberts, writers of Mitchell and Webb, The News Quiz and Armstrong and Miller.

Simon Smith hosts the one year anniversary episode of The CoP Show. And to commemorate that first year, we've put together some of our favourite moments from our favourite guests.

Joining Hazel Marshall to discuss what makes a great adaptation are Stewart Harcourt – Stewart has adapted many Poirots for ITV including Clocks from Christmas 2011 and Treasure Island with Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver for Sky 1 at New Year and Sarah Phelps – Sarah adapted the much discussed Great Expectations with Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham for the BBC in December 2011 and Oliver Twist...

Andrew Collins hosts this masterclass where eight radio producers get a chance to pitch ideas direct to BBC commissioners. They get two minutes to sell their idea and commissioners have four minutes to give feedback. This is an opportunity to hear what goes on behind the usually closed doors of commissioning rounds. The commissioners are Lewis Carnie from Radio 2 and 6 Music, Tony Phillips from Ra...

Petrie Hosken from BBC Radio Bristol is joined by a panel of guests to discuss how to take risks in radio. All radio producers want to make challenging, provocative and fresh work. But how do you make sure that this work sits on the right side of Ofcom regulations and your in-house compliance team? The panel share their experiences of putting live comedy and edgy drama on air. The panellists are S...

Linda Smith from the Radio Advertising Bureau is joined by a panel of guests to discuss the use of syndication to grow your audience and your revenue. Packed full of advice and anecdote, our guests share their experiences of what works when you’re looking to make the most of your audio assets. The panellists are Karen Pearson from Folded Wing, Russell Williams of Yahoo and Matt Deegan from Folder...

Broadcaster Liz Barclay is joined by a panel of guests who share advice on how to set up and run an independent production company. They discuss their experiences of starting out and keeping going – the highs and lows - and give advice to those who want to follow in their footsteps. The panel are Mark Goodier from Wise Buddah, Gloria Abramoff of Tonic Productions, Mukti Jain Campion from Culture W...

Sound Women founder Maria Williams is joined by a panel of guests to discuss how to create strong connections with your listeners. They discuss the value of audience research, share successful examples of work that their audiences have loved and suggest strategies for developing engagement and appreciation. The panel are Mary Dowson of Bradford Community Broadcasting, Robin Crowley of GaydarRadio,...

Georgie Bingham of talkSPORT is joined by a panel of guests to discuss the challenges and opportunities for sports broadcasters in this Olympic year. What approaches will radio shows deploy to grab audiences from tv and from each other? What skills will they require in their staff and what treats can listeners look forward to? Answering these questions are Moz Dee of talkSPORT, Jonathan Wall from...