Producing TV during COVID – ITV's Granada Reports with Lucy West and Elaine Willcox

Granada Reports is the ITV regional news programme covering the North West of England and the Isle of Man. It broadcasts for thirty minutes each Monday to Friday from 6.00 pm, covering regional news stories, features, sport and weather. The Granada Reports team has responded to the pandemic with a blend of communicating vital advice to the public, campaigning journalism and scoops of particular relevance to their patch. This session looks at how the team produced the show, as well as the specific role for local news in times of national crisis.

This session is part of our Producing TV during Covid strand.

Speakers

Lucy West is Head of News for ITV News Granada Reports based at Media City. With 26 years in broadcast news Lucy has won 2 Baftas for coverage of the Cumbria shootings and Hillsborough. She has lead teams on major breaking stories in the UK including Britain's biggest man hunt for Raoul Moat, the murder of Lee Rigby and the Manchester Arena bombing and now a pandemic.

Elaine Willcox is Deputy Head of News, anchor and lead correspondent. She has covered some of the biggest stories at home and abroad during her 20+ year career. After reporting undercover in China, Elaine’s exclusive interviews with the families caught up in the Morecambe Bay Cockling Disaster won an historic first BAFTA for regional news. At GMTV, ITV’s breakfast news programme, she drew accolades for her reports on Human Trafficking, Child Sexual Exploitation and Forced Marriage.

The session will be chaired by Claudia Sermbezis, reporter/ newsreader, BBC South East Today

This event is supported by the ScreenSkills Television Skills Fund which invests in training for the freelance television workforce thanks to contributions from the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

It is part of a ScreenSkills programme managed by the Indie Training Fund to support freelancers to upskill and stay connected, helping keep the industry resilient in these difficult times.

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘get ticket’ to reserve your place: you must login or register before you are able to get a ticket for this event. A booking confirmation with a joining link to the session will be sent to you via email.

If you are no longer able to use your ticket, we ask you to please contact support@screenskills.com  so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.