archived showS
THE GALAXY NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2010
CHANNEL 4 - WINTER 2010
David Baddiel hosts this star-studded celebration of the best in popular writing, from fiction to non-fiction, and from new writers to the Award for Outstanding Achievement.
BOOKED: STARS OF THE GALAXY NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
CHANNEL 4 - WINTER 2010
This 5-part series features in-depth interviews with some of the celebrity writers nominated for a National Book Award: Richard Bacon talks to Alan Sugar, Sue Perkins interviews Dawn French, Sandi Toksvig chats to Paul O’Grady, Joan Bakewell turns the tables on Michael Parkinson, and John Sargeant gets unique access to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
THE PEOPLE’S DETECTIVE
ITV 3 - AUTUMN 2010
This entertaining 6-part documentary series, narrated by comedian Marcus Brigstocke features classic clips and exclusive new interviews as it profiles TV’s best-loved detectives - in the search for ‘The People’s Detective’.
RACHEL ALLEN: DINNER PARTIES
UKTV: GOOD FOOD & RTE – 2010
In this 10-part series, Rachel’s on a mission to show you how to throw the perfect dinner party.
CELEBRITY PRESSURE COOKER
ITV - 2010
Lorraine Kelly hosts this 10-part studio show, in which 3 celebrities battle it out to impress a top guest chef. It’s fast, frenetic foodie fun – and the pressure is most definitely on.
THE HAIRY BIKERS’ FOOD TOUR OF BRITAIN
BBC2 & BBC1 – 2010
In this 30-part BBC Daytime series, Dave and Si head off on a culinary road-trip that takes them the length and breadth of the UK. Together, the boys seek out ‘the dish of the county’, meet local food producers, and cook against a talented new chef from the region.
RACHEL ALLEN: HOME COOKING
UKTV: GOOD FOOD & RTE – AUTUMN 2009
In this 10-part series, Rachel Allen shows how easy it is to feed your family great food every day – and she visits some of Britain’s most talented chefs in their homes, to sample the dishes they love to cook for their families.
THE CRIME THRILLER SEASON: PROFILING
ITV3 – AUTUMN 2009
This fascinating 6-part documentary series profiles some of the world’s best-selling and most popular crime thriller writers – the Kings & Queens of crime fiction.
A FAREWELL TO FLOYD
BBC2 – AUTUMN 2009
This documentary paid a fond farewell to the unforgettable Keith Floyd, in the wake of his death at the age of 66. Packed with classic archive clips, the film traces Floyd’s career, and features the recollections of famous friends and colleagues – including Rick Stein, Marco Pierre White and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
RACHEL ALLEN: BAKE!
UKTV: GOOD FOOD & RTE – AUTUMN 2008
From simple scones to impressive ‘occasion cakes’, Irish cook Rachel Allen dons her pinny and showcases some of her favourite bakes in this mouthwatering 15-part series.
THE CRIME THRILLER SEASON: PROFILING
ITV3 – AUTUMN 2008
This 6-part documentary series profiles some of the biggest names in crime thriller fiction – including P.D.James, Ruth Rendell and Colin Dexter – who would go on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at The Crime Thriller Awards 2008.
RICHARD & JUDY
CHANNEL 4 – FROM 2001-2008, THEN UKTV’S WATCH IN 2009
In May 2001, Cactus TV rocked the industry by directly signing Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan as part of an in initial two-year production deal with Channel 4 – which remains one of the biggest single commissions by C4 to an independent production company.
Over the next 7 years, Richard & Judy broadcast live to the nation each weekday afternoon – creating the now much fought-over ‘5 o’clock slot’, and regularly drawing audiences of over 2 million viewers. The show generated countless stories in the media, enjoyed visits from an incredible array of Hollywood stars, and was nominated for both a Royal Television Society Award and an Indie Award.
Thanks to its ‘Book Club’ strand – devised by Amanda Ross – it also transformed the profiles and fortunes of a number of popular authors, making many of them household names and millionaires. The Book Club also helped give birth to The National Book Awards, a TV event hosted by Richard & Judy and sponsored by Galaxy, which was broadcast annually on C4 from 2006-2008, and on UKTV’s entertainment channel ‘Watch’ in 2009. In October 2008, Richard & Judy left C4, and moved to Watch, where the show continued to draw A-list Hollywood stars right up until its final broadcast on 1st July 2009.
MORE ARCHIVED PRODUCTIONS
Since it was founded by Amanda & Simon, Cactus has enjoyed success producing a wide range of entertaining and popular programming across a huge variety of genres – everything from low-budget channel ‘interstitials’, to high-volume studio-based quizzes, to large-scale TV events and musical spectaculars…
Major music events include Sir Cliff Richard: The Hits I Missed (ITV), and Songs of Bond (ITV). Cactus originally created The British Soap Awards, and produced the TV coverage for four years until 2002; during that time, it was ITV’s highest-rated entertainment show for three years running.
Cactus quiz and game shows include Incognito (BBC1 – 2 series, 87 shows in total), King of the Castle (ITV – 19 shows), It’s Anybody’s Guess (ITV - 40 shows), Sports Anorak of the Year (UK Gold - 2 series, 64 shows), Intuition (ITV), Upshot (Anglia) and Morphit (BBC1).
For the youth market, Cactus produced the funky current affairs discussion show Mad For It, which was nominated for 3 RTS Awards, and Off The Wall (Anglia). Other youth series included Pop-elganger (UK PLAY), For Your Ears Only, (UK PLAY) and The TV Set (LWT).
Comedy features included In Search of Fame (BBC1), a consumer problem-solving series How To Deal With… (BBC1), and an infotainment graphic animation series - The Incredible Journey (BBC1). As well as making Lifestyle strands for BBC Daytime, Cactus produced two travel series, The Real America (BBC1) and Britain Into Europe (BBC1).
In 1999, The ITV Network Centre asked Cactus to take over the production of the prime-time charity TV event Men For Sale from Action Time, in order to re-format the show and take it upmarket. It was considered a major success, and the participation of stars including Boyzone, Michael Bolton, and the legendary Jean Claude van Damme helped the show raise over £325,000 for charity – almost five times the sum raised in the previous year.
Cactus-produced chat shows include The Last Resort Revisited (Channel 4) with Jonathan Ross, and Rowland Rivron Bites The Bullet (UK Gold). Cactus also produced a controversial debate show, The Spirit of Diana: The Debate for Living TV – which scored double the channel’s normal ratings for its slot.
In 2005, Cactus made a 10-part wine series for More4 as a spin-off from the Richard & Judy Wine Club. The company’s reputation for delivering high quality programmes with low budgets helped it win long-running contracts with Film Four and Channel 4 for interstitial programming – and FourSite, our fact-filled pop-ups for film buffs, aired on Channel 4 for over two years.
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