Articles about The A Word
Word to the wise
Peter Bowker, creator and writer of The A Word, and director Fergus O’Brien discuss making the third season of the BBC family drama and their joy at pushing sidelined characters and stories of disability into the limelight.
A-nother Word
Howard Burch, creative director of scripted at prodco Keshet UK, looks at the challenge of repeating the success of hit drama The A Word with its forthcoming second season and discusses the development process behind the follow-up.
Missing accomplished
Season two of The Missing has proved a worthy successor to its acclaimed forerunner on BBC1, while Showtime is in need of a new hit of its own. Andy Fry reports.
Networks seek feel-good dramas
While crime dramas still dominate TV schedules around the world, there’s a groundswell of opinion that it’s time for leading networks to commission a few more upbeat, uplifting series, reports Andy Fry.
Channel 4 cooks up first Hebrew drama
Israeli drama The Baker and the Beauty continues strong showing for Hebrew-language shows, but a new version of Conrad’s The Secret Agent proves too bleak for BBC1’s Sunday night audience.
BBC reveals diverse slate
The BBC confirms plans for an adaptation of David Nicholls novel US, two more Amazon pilots are on the way and Hulu and ITV a teaming up on saucy new period drama Harlots.
The A Word
Writer Peter Bowker and director Peter Cattaneo describe their favourite scenes from the opening episode of The A Word.
Houdini & Doyle conjures tepid response
ITV Encore’s new drama Houdini & Doyle has received a lukewarm reception from viewers – but is that down to the channel or the show? Elsewhere, Channel 4 brings an end to Indian Summers after a sharp decline in ratings for season two.
Bringing its A game: BBC1 tackles autism in The A Word
A family struggles to cope when their youngest son is diagnosed with autism in BBC1 drama The A Word – the latest international drama to be inspired by a hit Israeli series.
Israel’s international impact
The ongoing global appeal of Israeli drama formats comes under the spotlight this week as Andy Fry examines what makes shows such as Hatufim, BeTipul and Pilpelim Zehubim so exportable.
Sara Johnson
Sara Johnson is executive producer and head of coproductions, scripted, at Keshet International UK. Opting to give DQ a whopping 10 shows instead of the usual six, Sara adds Keshet titles Prisoners of War and The A Word to her ‘nostalgic’ list of top dramas.