BBC women demand action on gender pay now, not in future
‘Things’ Season 2 trailer a real ‘Thriller’
LONDON, July 23, (Agencies): Prominent women at the BBC want the broadcaster’s gender pay gap to be resolved immediately rather than in several years.
TV personalities including Clare Balding, Victoria Derbyshire and others wrote an open letter Sunday to the BBC’s top manager saying that plans to resolve the company’s gender pay gap must be accelerated.
Documents made public last week showed that male BBC TV and radio personalities make substantially more than their female counterparts. The salary disparity came to light after the publicly funded BBC was forced to publish the salary range of its best-paid actors and presenters.
The list showed that two-thirds of the highest earners were men, with the highestpaid woman earning less than a quarter of the highest-earning male star. Many BBC men were found to be receiving far higher salaries than women in comparable jobs.
The open letter to BBC Director-General Tony Hall says the documents confirmed a long-held suspicion that “women at the BBC are being paid less than men for the same work.” It urged Hall to fix the disparity “now” rather than in 2020, as has been suggested.
Balding, one of BBC’s most accomplished TV journalists, said in a pointed tweet that a 2020 target for equal pay isn’t good enough, since the Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1970 and the Equality Act in 2010.
“We’re standing together to politely suggest they can do better,” she said.
The women said they are taking action now so “future generations” of BBC women won’t face discrimination.
Hall said, when the salary list was published, that the broadcaster needed to move more quickly on issues of gender and diversity. He has not yet responded to the letter calling for immediate remedies for female employees.
Nostalgic horror sensation “Stranger Things” unveiled a new trailer set to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” on Saturday as it built buzz for season two at the San Diego ComicCon fan convention.
The Netflix series — about a gang of 1980s children looking for their missing friend — became a break-out hit last year, winning critical acclaim and fame for its cast of young stars, led by Millie Bobby Brown.
The trailer starts with the boys — played by Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp — crowded around 1980s video game “Dragon’s Lair.”
Suddenly Will experiences a vision of the arcade they are in as part of the show’s dark alternative world, the “Upside Down.”
“I saw something... I felt it everywhere,” a crying Will later reveals to his worried mother Joyce, played by Winona Ryder
Next the four friends are seen creeping about in “Ghostbusters” costumes, apparently looking for evil spirits, as Vincent Price’s ghoulish voiceover for “Thriller” plays in the background.
The three-minute trailer ends with Brown’s character, the telekinetic Eleven, trying to find her way out of the Upside Down.
The footage was shown as part of a Q&A moderated by Patton Oswald with executive producers Shawn Levy, and Matt and Ross Duffer, as well as much of the cast.
The Duffers said they had always intended the show to be similar to “Spielberg directing a big, fat Stephen King book.”
When “The Flash” returns, fans can expect a shift toward a lighter, funnier season.
A new trailer with exclusive footage ran at the top of the panel, which included executive producer Todd Helbing and cast members Kelynan Lonsdale, Jesse L Martin, Candice Patton, Grant Gustin, Tom Cavanagh, Danielle Panabaker, and Carlos Valdes. Amid intermittent shouts of “I love you!” from fans, the cast and Helbing dropped a few hints about the new season.
When we last left Team Flash, Barry Allen was trapped inside the speed force and the best team in the business was trying to free him. But at least Panabaker still had a great time filming last year’s darker season, proclaiming, “I loved playing Killer Frost!”
Gustin talked about the episode where he had to act against himself, “This guy Andrew Dunbar acted against me and Tom directed that episode, which made it a lot easier. It wasn’t easy material. It was emotionally charged.” Cavanagh jumped in to praise Gustin, “Grant is a phenomenal actor and when he adds nuances and smaller layers, he brought powerful energies to both characters. Also, he’s very handsome.”
Martin teased that Joe and Cecile’s romance will heat up, “It gets more serious. That’s all I can say.” He also made special mention of “The Flash” musical episode because he was thrilled to work with Victor Garber, “As a New York stage actor, you know what it means to stand next to that dude.” Todd Helbing credited Greg Berlanti’s lifelong love of musicals for inspiring “The Flash” musical episode.
Helbing also announced Danny Trejo is joining the show and the Ballroom 20 crowd let out a huge cheer. Kim Engelbrecht is also joining the show as a new female villain. More teases from Helbing included, “With three Speedsters in a row, this year it’s the fastest man alive against the fastest mind alive. We’re also trying to lighten the tone this year. Last year was pretty dark, we’re going to try to get back to the jokes.”