Truth or Dare: The Reality of British TV

30 January 08

The first in a new strand of BAFTA Debate events took place on Monday 28 January. Truth or Dare: The Reality of British Television brought together an expert panel to debate the issues surrounding reality television.

Supported by The Farm Group.

For the first in a series of BAFTA Debates we set out to explore the minefield of reality television.

Moderated by Peter Dale (Head, More 4), an expert panel of leading figures in British television tackled the dilemmas of a specially-created reality show that's going badly wrong.

"Celebrity Press Gang" put a group of celebrities on board an old sailing ship moored a mile out in the English Channel. The hypothetical reality show was discussed as if it were being broadcast with panel members taking the roles of all the major players, from Channel Controllers to Tabloid Editors.

The panel had to navigate a series of crises including involving accusations of racism and child abuse, a dilemma over an alcoholic contestant, a politically charged t-shirt and a viewer vote which names the ship's cat "Mohammed".

Bravely throwing themselves into the ring were:

Greg Dyke (Former Director General, BBC) as The Chief Executive
Peter Salmon (Chief Creative Officer, BBC Vision Productions) as The Channel Controller
Ben Gale (Commissioning Editor, Factual Features & Format, BBC) as The Commissioning Editor
Natalka Znak (Executive Producer, I'm A Celebrity, Hell's Kitchen and Love Island) as The Executive Producer
Emily Hogan (Producer, reality TV) as The Producer
Paul Leather (Head Of Press, Channel 5) as The Press Officer
Prash Naik (Deputy Head Of Legal & Compliance, Channel 4) as The Lawyer
Phil Hall (Chairman, Phil Hall Associates) as The Celebrity Guru
Kelvin MacKenzie (Former Editor, The Sun) as The Tabloid Editor.