Midlands TV needs kiss of life

I WENT to a gltizy TV awards bash on Saturday, and came away feeling rather depressed about the state of television in the Midlands.

The Royal Television Society Awards at Birmingham's Burlington Hotel were more subdued than usual.

There were very few stars in attendance. In previous years it's been hosted by the likes of Brian Conley and Dermot Murnaghan, but we had to settle for newsreaders Ashley Blake and Lucy Kite. Who did a good job, but are hardly A list celebs.

There were very few names presenting awards, either. In the past I've seen Nigel Havers, Lucy Davis, Timothy West, Sue Nicholls, Jack Dee, Noddy Holder and a host of other stars at the RTS do.

The best we had on Saturday was East Midlands Today's weatherman Des Coleman (pictured) who used to be in EastEnders and who insisted on singing.

He also lost the audience when he said: "I'd like to say how many beautiful women there are here tonight. Mind you, there are also some ugly ones...and you know who you are."

Charming!

So what of the awards? Great to see John Craven seeing off younger competition by taking Best Male Personality and Best Magazine Programme for Countryfile.

The Baird Medal, a kind of lifetime achievement award, went to Central TV's Bob Warman, but even that was low-key. Poor Bob is off sick at the moment with an ear infection so didn't attend, and the only tribute we got was one from Chris Tarrant (not delivered in person) with not a single joke in it.

Perhaps most depressing were the awards for Best Actress and Best Actor which weren't even contested, as the only drama being made in Birmingham these days is Doctors.
The gongs went to Diane Keen (wearing a daringly short dress) and Michael McKell, who's not even in it any more.

It's good news that Doctors is staying in Birmingham for another three years, which is about the only thing the region has managed to glean so far out of the BBC's promise to move 50 per cent of its production to areas outside London by 2016.

Oh, that and more gardening shows.

It's all well and good Birmingham being a centre for horticultural programmes, but giving us Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows is hardly the same as a meaty drama, is it?

And while Doctors is a great show, it's not a great advert for Brum. It's set in fictional Leatherbridge and I bet the rest of the country don't realise it's made here.

Carry On Doctors, please, but let's also have more Midland-made drama.