Judi Dench berates ‘lazy young actors who ignore their artistic heritage’

Blue plaque event at Gielgud home prompts dismay over ‘actor apathy’, mumbled speech and dumbed-down Shakespeare Dame Judi Dench has accused younger actors of apathy and laziness and caring little for either their artistic heritage or whether they can even be heard speaking. She spoke at the unveiling of a blue plaque at the former…

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The Mumbling Mob

What did she say?

Happy Valley is the latest show viewers can’t hear. What to do, asks Stephen Armstrong. Why is Happy Valley 2 getting viewers so upset? Sally Wainwright is back with another cracking script, and directing it herself this time; and the nation’s sweetheart, Sarah Lancashire, is reprising the tough but troubled cop Catherine Cawood. Twisted Tommy…

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Great Drama – But Can You Hear What They’re Saying Now?

Louise Willcox MIBS, Executive Committee Member and volunteer to the Listener and Viewer’s TV Audibility Group, reports on her experiences in a major recent exercise to assess the difficulties of dialogue audibility across a range of programmes and broadcasters. The Voice of the Listener and Viewer’s TV Audibility Group (TVAG), formed in 2007, has been…

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VLV’s Audibility of Speech on Television Project

PRESS RELEASE People with hearing difficulties could soon benefit from adjustments to be made to the sound quality on TV programmes, thanks to research undertaken by Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV), the BBC and RNID in 2010. The survey results have shown that with greater awareness and subsequent relatively minor changes in production…

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Great drama – but can you hear what they’re saying?

Report by Louise Willcox, IBS Executive member My Mother sent me a cutting from The Independent newspaper dated 1st June 2009, headline: “Great drama – but can you hear a single word they are saying?” It reported that Jay Hunt, Controller BBC 1 had agreed to co-operate with a major independent study. Being a nosey…

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