Spring has sprung

Just back from the Channel 4 Spring 2006 launch. To be honest, there’s not a huge amount to report, bar a potentially interesting season titled “The Trouble With Old People” and – can it be true? – the end of Property Ladder? Well, nothing was actually said on this point, but it wasn’t included in the line-up of new housing programmes alongside Grand Designs and Location, Location, Location as has previously been the norm.

Gathering in a hotel in South West London, Kevin Lygo was as supply teacher-like as ever, requiring a compartively burly colleague to call for silence from the makeshift stage before he got up to give us the banter.

“So far it’s been another embarrassingly brilliant year for Channel 4,” he quipped. “It can’t last”. Crowing further about the 15% rise in audience share across C4′s portfolio, he admitted part of this was down to “general chaos and mayhem on the other networks”.

He then went on to detail how Friday night was once more comedy night, with a third series of The Friday Night Projectcurrently in the works. “It’s a lot better now”. Hmm. There was no sign of any new comedic offerings, however.

The other emphasis was on drama, with C4 committed to producing more one and two-part projects. Of these, the big-hitter will undoubtedly be All in the Game, starring Ray Winstone as a (what else?) foul-mouthed football manager.

And that’s it, really. That, and the canapes were pretty crap.