Television’s future as seen by Teesside’s new Professor of Media Production

Film and programme maker Richard Else - who has just been appointed Professor of Media Production at the University of Teesside - gives a free public lecture at the University on Wednesday, 5 December, at 6.30pm.

Entitled ‘Television: a medium still in search of a message’, the lecture in the Europa Building/University Cinema, Woodlands Road, Middlesbrough, will offer some thought-provoking ideas on the future of television.

Professor Else says: “Everyone will surely remember how they first saw the horrific images of September 11th. Whilst these images usually represent defining moments for us, they are only a part of the totality of television.”

Professor Else, who is actively involved in programme-making will continue as a director of Triple Echo Productions, the specialist independent production company he helped to set-up in Scotland.

He is anxious to ensure closer links between the University of Teesside and the film and new media industries; and, as an academic, he is keen to see a greater role for regional programme-making in the North East. He also wants to see television having a more effective regional and community role.

His company specialises in producing travel and adventure documentaries and he has travelled to some of the most remote places on Earth, such as the Arctic Circle locations, to produce documentaries about life on the wild side for the BBC.

Among the award-winning programmes he has to produce is BBC's Wild Climbs, which has won 12 prizes world-wide. His company also picked up a major award at the recent British International Mountain Film Festival in Kendal for a film about a climber and author who suffered extreme brain damage when a rock the size of a TV set smashed into his skull while he was climbing in Australia.

He was attracted to Teesside by the University's excellent reputation in areas such as Computer Animation, Visualisation, Design and Virtual Reality - and hopes to build a similar reputation for its media-related courses.

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