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There are few more thrilling things in life,” confides Murray Boland, with that special charm the creative Irish seem to have in spades, “than when someone who is incredibly clever comes in with a brilliant, original, witty, risky programme idea. That excites me.
“You know,” he adds thought- fully, “the really enjoyable part of my job is dealing with some of the smartest people in the industry.”
And it is those clever young people who are going to be cru- cial to the future of his channel E4, as his bankers, Friends, ER and Big Brother come to the end of their hugely successful life-span, and to his success as chairman of the advisory committee for this year’s Edinburgh Television Festival.
We talk first about the post- Friends/Big Brother era.
“They are,” he concedes with a smile of opportunity rather than loss, “going to be exceedingly hard to replace. The exciting challenge for us is: what you do with the money that becomes available?”
Boland clearly thrives on chal- lenges like this.
“I’m looking for a level of origi- nality in entertainment you won’t find anywhere else.”
He cites The Pilot Show and Jimmy Carr’s RTS winner, Your Place or Mine. The Pilot Show fea- tures public and celebrities rush- ing to audition for ludicrous for- mats that will never air. Boland’s face lights up as he recalls: “It was a very funny show, caused a huge furore. I’m enormously proud that it was possible to launch a big idea on a digital channel. Very few people are doing that.”
Built into the Boland philoso- phy is his search for programmes with “real wit and intelligence.”
Looking back at his formative years in Ireland where his father was a light entertainment pro- ducer at RTE, he shudders, “I hate light entertainment/variety. It makes me sick. I like my enter- tainment to have real bite. I don’t care if it’s puerile. It often is and I like that. Ali G [on which he worked] had real cultural rele- vance. It was speaking to you about the life you are aware is going on around you. Entertainment in a vacuum has no value.”
He observes: “It is the public service consciousness of C4 that has made our entertainment dif- ferent. Mark Thompson [C4’s
CEO] put his finger on it when he told us ‘You must be able to suc- ceed - but you have to take risks.’ For me that’s great; the idea that risk is expected of you.”
His next risk?
A pastiche of The Big Read called Wife For William. Boland explains: “On the basis that the royals choose the wrong spouse, we’re going to present the top 30 contenders to the nation. The future Queen is probably among them. We’ll ask viewers: ‘Who do you think William should choose?’”
Then there’s a new vehicle for Big Breakfast’s Zig and Zag called The Bronx Bunny Show. “It’s based on an incredibly obscene American chat show featuring a rabbit and a panda. They love porn, it’s incredibly funny, brilliant- ly executed.”
And the strategy for his com- mittee looking ahead to the Edinburgh Television Festival?
“Although these are turbulent times for all broadcasters, I would like us to be less corporate in our debates with the focus firmly on outstanding programmes and inspirational programme makers. Suggestions for keynote speakers are most welcome.”
There are challenging times ahead for E4’s head of programmes, Murray Boland. He’s seeking a wife for Prince William, a replacement for Friends and an inspira- tional programme maker for the Edinburgh TV Festival. John Morrell reports.
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Emily Woof’s
six of the best
Industry personalities hand out their very own BAFTAs
WTorst Petty Officialdom
his happened when I was directing a short film called Between The Wars a couple of years ago. Having obtained permission to film on the tarmac in Southwark we were faced with this housing officer who insisted we were only allowed to put the camera on the pink tarmac, not the grey. She certainly wasn’t fazed by the sight of a film crew – although she did quite like stand- ing in front of our camera.
Most Worrying Canine PIerformer
was playing Nancy in Alan Bleasdale’s TV adaptation of Oliver Twist, shooting in Prague,
when I got trampled by the dog they were using as Bullseye. Andy Serkis was Bill Sikes, and he’s quite a full-on performer. When he start- ed ‘killing’ Nancy, the dog could- n’t cope at all, and started tram- pling me while I was on the floor. I was pregnant at the time, but for- tunately I wasn’t badly hurt.
great role – there was far too much riding on it for me – so the last thing I wanted to do was to cancel it.
MTost Red-Cheeked Moment his was a scene in Peter Duncan’s film Passion, in which I was standing butt- naked in front of the whole crew while Richard Roxburgh whipped my bum. The story of composer Percy Grainger, it was quite an intense film but very beautiful and with gorgeous music.
BMest Production
y son Samuel. He’ll be four in April and having him has changed my approach to work. Parenthood puts things in a different perspec- tive. It also affects how much you want to work away from home. I think it probably makes you less intense about the work, but at the same time you somehow have easier access to certain emotions.
MTost Mysterious Look
his was the character I played in Velvet Goldmine, resembling the love child of Worzel Gummidge and Deirdre Barlow. I was a bit too young to have enjoyed the glam rock era, but that’s the great thing about being an actor; you have the opportunity to experience these things vicariously.
Emily Woof has appeared on stage, TV and in films like The Full Monty, This Year’s Love, Pandaemonium and, most recently, Wondrous Oblivion (as pictured), which opens in April. She is also developing a couple of features as a writer-director.
Test Supporting Cast
his is the plaster cast I wore when doing SEX III at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh
some years ago. I broke my ankle in rehearsal but carried on with the show, wheeling myself about the stage on an office chair. I was so excited that I’d got this
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