ANOTHER BBC COMEDY SHORT FROM SMALL AND CLEVER

 
Taid (Dewi Pws Morris) and Calum (Lewis Ford) outside a care home
 

Just about to land on iPlayer is Grandfather Rights, the latest comedy production from Small and Clever. This one teams up veteran actor Dewi Pws Morris, with newcomer Lewis Ford. They play grandad and grandson in this comedy short written and directed by TV newcomer Paul Allen.

We’re in Wales in 2064, where Health and Safety has everyone and everything in its grip - everyone that is apart from Taid (Dewi Pws Morris), who reckons he can still drive all sorts of ancient death-trap vehicles, because he passed his test before the 1st of January 1997.

Grandfather Rights was ordered by BBC Wales Comedy Commissioner Paul Forde and produced by Small and Clever MD Phillip Moss.

We've got a sibling...

We’ve just finished working on a major documentary series for BBC Wales - but this time not as producers.

Slammed: The Seventies tells the story of arguably rugby’s greatest ever players. The names still resonate: Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies, JPR Williams, JJ Williams, Phil Bennett, Mervyn Davies, Barry John. Through three hour-long episodes you can see for yourself just why those Welsh players are so revered and why their fame has lasted long beyond their playing days. We were hired by Series Producer Craig Withycombe to clean up and restore all the archive footage across the three episodes - over 750 shots in all.

A still image of a young Gareth Edwards, showing in split screen the 'before and after' of archive cleanup.

A still of rugby legend Gareth Edwards from Slammed: The Seventies, showing the ‘before and after’ of archive cleanup. Image copyright BBC

Over half the running time in each episode is archive, and some of the footage really struggles when played on the big TV screens we’re used to today. Craig knew that if we could improve the quality and clarity of this noisy footage, the whole experience of watching the series would be transformed.

There’s a bewildering variety of sources: film footage, videotape recordings of live matches, film recordings of live matches, videotape transfers of film footage, most of it digitised in the early 2000s with higher compression than we’d use today. So, each shot presents its own challenges. We used a range of techniques to reduce noise, dirt and grain, and also used machine learning software which looks at indistinct details and ‘works out’ what’s missing. The results have even amazed us, suddenly you’re closer to the past, revealing details and little moments that were probably never seen when they were first shown.

A still image of a gathering in a Welsh town in the 1970s, with a split screen to show the improvements made by archive cleanup

Back in the 1970s, this scene would have been shot on 16mm film and then transferred via telecine onto videotape - all in standard definition. We can bring back lost details and generally make the shots less distracting and easier to take in. Image copyright BBC.

We’re using techniques which we developed after working on our own archive shows where we realised that clips from the 70, 80s and 90s were just not holding up against the quality of modern-day footage. We think there is huge potential to use our methods on a large number of archive shows and documentaries, where clean-up will just become the norm. So this is the reason we’ve set up Clearframe - our sibling company that will provide archive cleanup to programme makers and broadcasters.

There’s a well-known posh tonic water whose slogan is ‘If over 3/4 of your drink is the mixer, mix with the best’. Well we think the same applies to archive footage - if over half of your programme is archive, you should talk to Clearframe.

You can contact Clearframe on hello@clearframe.tv, call Phillip Moss on +44 777 5500793, or visit our new website: clearframe.tv.

New comedy pilot goes to air on January 20th

 

We’re really pleased to share the news that another comedy production from Small and Clever will be going out on the BBC later this month.

It’s called The i-Word and it’s the story of two ambitious influencers, on a mission to become social media’s favourite inter-abled couple. Written by and starring Jake Sawyers and Emily Nicole Roberts, this was a commission from the team behind The Sesh at BBC Wales. We worked closely with BBC exec producers Chris Walsh-Heron and Alice Rothwell who commissioned a pilot with Emily and Jake, two regular performers on BBC Sesh.

It’s been a really rewarding process, working with Jake and Emily to develop the concept and the characters, and guiding them through the stages of developing and writing a script to be ready for shooting. We’ve learnt a lot too along the way. The pilot is Directed and Produced by Small and Clever MD Phillip Moss with Photography by Jack Browse and Location Sound by another long-standing collaborator on previous SandC productions, Jack Beresford. We also continued our association with USW Film and TV School Wales, with two post-grad students Sanal Paul and Richard Llewellyn helping us out on the shoot.

Watch out for a smashing performance from Greatest Hits Radio presenter Phil Hoyles as a well-meaning but out of his depth Awards Host, plus a great cameo from real-life BSL interpreter Anthony Evans.

The i-Word is on BBC Two Wales on Friday 20th January, and on BBC i-Player

 

Age of Outrage tx dates

 
 

Age of Outrage compilation episodes will appear on BBC iPlayer from January 9th 2023. This coincides with the linear transmission on BBC Two Wales, for three weeks from Jan 9th at 10pm. We’re really pleased that the series, written and performed by Welsh talent is getting another showing, in an established comedy slot. Radio 4 used to call these ‘revised repeats’ and the compilations are a mix of the original series and some gems from the pilot programme, plus we’ve tightened up a lot of the sketches, dropped ones which felt past their sell-by date, and updated the spoof BBC idents to reflect the new branding.

Eagle-eyed viewers (or people who are as obsessed by these things as the Producer) will spot that we’ve even updated the BBC logo on the news items. Sadly, ITV updated their branding after we delivered the programmes, but you can’t win them all.

Age of Outrage gets another outing

We’re really pleased to say that Age of Outrage will be back on TV screens very soon. The sketch show, made in Wales with Welsh-based performers and writers will appear in three half-hour episodes on BBC Wales TV later this year. Phillip Moss, Producer and Director of Age of Outrage said: “It’s great that this innovative - and funny - sketch show is going to be available in these new half-hour compilation episodes, in a traditional comedy slot on broadcast TV. Look out for our versions of BBC favourites Countryfile and Panorama (including a special appearance by 90s TV legend Dave Benson Phillips), the red puffer jackets will be out in Roadcode Lottery, we’ll have news reports about blurry schoolchildren and a missing BBC news employee, and get ready for the launch of our period Welsh drama Bridgenderton. Plus Stockshot Theatre, a new ITV game show and coverage of the funeral of the inventor of Productive Teat - all sponsored by Bet Bear”.

Comedy pilot in production

We’re pleased to say that we’re in pre-production on a Comedy pilot for BBC Wales TV. The comedy will be shown on BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer later in the year. It’s written by and starring Jake Sawyers and Emily Nicole Roberts. They are regular performers on BBC Sesh and are taking part in this project which is designed to give more opportunities to people with disabilities to get experience writing and performing for broadcast TV. The pilot script was commissioned by Chris Walsh-Heron and Alice Rothwell from BBC Wales.