Yes, there are only ten days to go until commercial television starts broadcasting and changes the make-up of British television broadcasting for good. Or ill, I suppose. With so little time left it’s good news, I suppose, that The Guardian reports on a statement made by Gordon Sandison of the actors’ union Equity. Mr Sandison was still optimistic that there might be an agreement by 22 September with Sir Robert Fraser of the ITA imposing a limitation on the number of hours available for foreign films.
One thing that has been agreed – and this is with the programme contractors rather than the ITA – were some standard fees for its members. A rehearsal fee of £2 2s for a day of not longer than six hours, with a further 7s an hour overtime if longer. For performance, a negotiable fee not lower than seven guineas would be payable.
The Guardian’s Radio Critic (RC) has his say on the BBC’s new Saturday night features. One of these is As I Was Saying aka Six Portraits in Crime by Berkely Mather, the first of which RC considers “creditable”, whereas Saturday Night Out was “disappointing”. The Sunday night play “is often poor” but last night’s, Yellow Sands, “came out surprisingly well on television.” The’s another chance to see As I Was Saying tonight but it’s not a new performance, it’s a telerecording of Saturday’s broadcast.