The boss of the BBC’s flagship breakfast news show had his powers beefed up after facing allegations of bullying, favoritism, and shaking a female colleague, Deadline can reveal. Richard Frediani is arguably the BBC’s most powerful news executive outside of London, leading BBC Breakfast to awards success and agenda-setting stories. But behind the show’s famous red sofa, and the welcoming faces of presenters like Sally Nugent and Jon Kay, there has been disquiet about his leadership. Deadline has spoken to nine BBC insiders about Frediani, with sources detailing at least two workplace misconduct complaints since he became the editor of Breakfast in September 2019, one of which was the subject of a formal grievance process last year. The BBC declined to comment on individual HR matters. Frediani did not respond to a request for comment. >>>"Bruiser" From Bygone Era |
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| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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Tricky Outlook For 'Mickey 17' - Mickey 17, Warner Bros.' expensive auteur sci-fi feature from Parasite Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho, finally arrives in theaters this weekend with a global outlook around $45M. The Robert Pattinson movie carries a net production cost after UK tax credits of $118M before P&A. >>>Break Even Between $240M-$300M
Bringing Mad Dog To Heel - British actors’ union Equity has written to a government regulator urging it to take action against Mad Dog 2020 Casting, a 25-year-old UK agency that collapsed last month owing creditors more than £1.5M ($1.9M). Paul W. Fleming called on Ben Bruten, boss of the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EASI), to exercise its powers against Mad Dog, which includes fines, prosecutions, and the ability to ban individuals from running agencies in the future. >>> Call For Accountability
Steven Soderbergh Is Back In 'Black' - The director's third collaboration in two years with screenwriter David Koepp proves to be the charm. Black Bag is an exceptionally sophisticated and adult spy thriller with an A+ cast at the top of its game, a tight 93-minute running time and dialogue with wit and bite. It gives Soderbergh one of his best opportunities to do what he does so well: give older audiences a reason to go back to the movies. >>> Pete Hammond's Review
In Brief - Daniel Bekerman & his Scythia Films ink with WME... Independent Writers’ Caucus adds 7 board members... Monopoly movie lands writers |
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Apple’s Prime Target — a twisty thriller about a brilliant post-graduate math student who’s close to making a huge discovery that takes him deep into a government conspiracy — wrapped its run March 5 with a bloody good payoff for Leo Woodall‘s Edward Brooks. But what happens to him now? Will Martha Plimpton‘s Jane Torres get punished for her dastardly deeds? And did Edward’s decision to release the code wreak havoc on the world? Here, creator Steve Thompson ( Sherlock, Dr. Who) explains how he first came up with the idea for Prime Target, along with why it took a bunch of eggheads to make Edward look like a genius over eight episodes, whether we can expect a second season, and why viewers shouldn’t overlook those unique pins on this lapels. >>> Read The Interview |
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Exclusive
Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building has locked in the first major cast addition for the upcoming fifth season. Keegan-Michael Key has been tapped for a recurring role.
Exclusive
NBC’s Suits LA will welcome Rick Hoffman later this season, reprising the role of Louis Litt he originated in the mothership series, USA Network’s Suits. Sources close to production confirm he will appear in one episode this season with the potential to return for more if NBC picks up the Aaron Korsh-created legal drama for a second season.
Exclusive
Kathryn Newton is joining the cast of Radio Silence’s follow up to its $57 million global-grossing 2019 cult hit Ready or Not. The casting marks Newton’s second collaboration with Radio Silence after last year’s Universal horror movie Abigail.
Exclusive
O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (Den Of Thieves 2), Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty), Chet Hanks (Dead Wrong) and Spencer Garrett (Yes Man ) have joined the cast of Mark Pellington’s conspiracy thriller Lone Wolf.
Exclusive
Paul Adelstein (Prison Break) has been cast as a series regular in AMC and AMC+’s untitled Jonathan Glatzer Silicon Valley drama headlined by Billy Magnussen.
Sam Worthington has closed a deal to star in the Netflix limited series I Will Find You, based on Harlan Coben’s bestselling novel. Ordered in November, the eight-episode series is the first greenlighted U.S. adaptation of a book by Coben under his exclusive deal with Netflix.
In Brief - Matthew Modine boarding next Monsterverse movie... Gabourey Sidibe & Yaya DaCosta to star in Lifetime movies... Eamonn Walker returning to Chicago Fire for one episode... Giancarlo Esposito, Aya Cash & Jessica Harper join Kill Me |
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More News ❌ Producers of Hamilton, the massively popular Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, have canceled a planned 2026 engagement at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., decrying the “recent purge by the Trump Administration” of the venue’s professional staff and center-produced events.
🤖 Prime Video has launched a pilot program using AI tools to dub select movies and series into English and Latin American Spanish. The initiative, which launched Wednesday, is intended to make the service’s “vast streaming library accessible to even more customers," a company blog post said. 🦊 Jamie Foxx is staying in business with Fox. The star, who recently toplined Netflix’s Back In Action alongside Cameron Diaz, has closed a first-look deal with Fox Entertainment Studios. He will develop and produce scripted and unscripted programming for Fox’s studio arm.
📺 Audiences have been tapped into the story of former family vlogger Ruby Franke, which unfolds in Hulu‘s latest docuseries. Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke drew 7.9M global views in its first five days of streaming, which makes it the biggest docuseries on Hulu to date. |
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On the Radar
Fri - SXSW begins
Sat - Lady Gaga hosts SNL
Sun - The Righteous Gemstones S4 premiere
Tue - Robert De Niro on Seth Meyers |
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Departing Gemstones: Danny McBride & Co. celebrate at the premiere of the fifth and final season of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. |
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