{"id":22330,"date":"2024-12-04T08:50:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T13:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T10:13:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T15:13:15","slug":"lion-televisions-richard-bradley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/","title":{"rendered":"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lion Television produces a broad range of programming, spanning factual, entertainment, children\u2019s and scripted, for which it has won numerous awards. Its factual offerings range from series explorations of ancient civilizations, such as\u00a0Pompeii: The New Dig<\/em>, following the largest archaeological excavation in a generation, to films that delve into current issues, such as\u00a0Irresistible: Why We Can\u2019t Stop Eating<\/em>. As Richard Bradley, the company\u2019s co-founder and chief creative officer, tells\u00a0TV Real<\/em>, the film examines the origins of the obesity crisis present in numerous countries. He also talks about returning to Pompeii and working with a team of Italian archaeologists as they make new discoveries.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Tell us about your new film,\u00a0Irresistible: Why We Can\u2019t Stop Eating<\/em>. How did it come about?
\nBRADLEY:<\/strong>\u00a0All of us have been increasingly aware of the food we\u2019re eating, that much of it probably isn\u2019t good for us, and there\u2019s a global obesity pandemic. In certain parts of the world, such as France, they would probably be better at resisting this food culture that\u2019s emerged. They still sit down for a meal of freshly cooked food that takes time to digest. But in most of the world, that\u2019s not the case. What\u2019s happened is ultra-processing. Dr. Chris van Tulleken, a U.K. doctor, TV presenter and very significant researcher, wrote a book called\u00a0Ultra-Processed People<\/em>. It\u2019s a fantastic, life-changing book\u2014a history of ultra-processed food. We managed to get the rights to it and decided to make a film of it. Chris traced the roots of this development of the food industry. If you look at all the obesity statistics across North America, across all demographics, ages and ethnicities, they were all going along pretty flat, with only a slight increase. But in 1975, and thereafter, the levels of obesity increased and kept going up and up. So, the question is, as Chris says very well in the film, if you think it\u2019s about the loss of willpower, then you have to believe that everyone in America, suddenly, across all demographics, all ages, all ethnicities, all lost willpower at the same time in 1975. That just isn\u2019t credible.<\/p>\n

Chris tracks Howard Moskowitz, who was looking at how you make food tastier. He created the concept of the bliss point\u2014which is peak sugar, fat and salt\u2014the moment when you put these ingredients together to make something irresistible and hyper-palatable. It\u2019s this idea of, \u201cMy goodness, it tastes so good!\u201d It\u2019s the bliss point. These were very smart chemists who, at many levels, started with great intentions: making food more affordable, cheaper and more available. Working moms didn\u2019t have time to cook. How do you feed a population with affordable, easy-to-access food? The problem is, once you\u2019ve cracked this idea of the scientific formulation of foods, it\u2019s almost like the beast is unleashed. You end up with a system in which they try to make food that lasts longer and has cheaper ingredients.<\/p>\n

We do a little test in the film where we show a lemon cake that mom would make at home with lemons, flour, sugar and maybe a bit of baking powder. That\u2019s it. Then we show a shop-bought lemon cake. It has 30 to 40 ingredients. It has anti-mold agents, but they taste like paracetamol, which is really bitter. So, you add flavoring to mask the anti-mold agents, and that creates funny colors. So, you put coloring in to turn it yellow and back to being a lemon cake. What you end up with is this out-of-control system.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s sonic branding. For example, Snapple, I think they\u2019ve trademarked the sound [the cap makes when you open the bottle] because, in your head, it starts preparing you for the taste. Or packets of chips; when they make a rustling sound, they feel fresh, even though they may have been sitting on a store shelf for weeks or months.<\/p>\n

For me, one of the scariest revelations was that one of the big food companies brings in brain scanners because one of the scientists decides, \u201cLet\u2019s not leave it to tasting panels to decide what tastes better. Let\u2019s see what happens to your brain.\u201d So, they bring brain scanners into the companies to look at the impact of food on your brain. When parts of your brain light up, they double down on [certain ingredients].<\/p>\n

Another interesting part is about Carlos Monteiro, who framed the idea of processed food. He was in Brazil, wondering why there was a massive growth in obesity. He looked at it, and the increase in obesity was coming with a decline in purchases of salt, sugar and fat in the supermarkets, and wondered what was going on. We thought salt, sugar and fat were things that made you obese, but sales were going down. They were going down because fewer people were cooking at home. Everyone was buying processed food and ready meals. It\u2019s been absolutely fascinating.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very powerful. What makes this show different is that everybody in it is a food industry insider. They\u2019re talking about what they do, the challenges of creating cheap food and how this has happened. It\u2019s got something very powerful to say about the obesity crisis.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0On a completely different topic, you have gone back to Pompeii and have Italian archaeologists working with you for\u00a0Pompeii: The New Dig<\/em>.
\nBRADLEY:<\/strong>\u00a0We have made several programs in Pompeii over the years. It\u2019s endlessly fascinating because it\u2019s an extraordinary time capsule of Roman life. And it\u2019s the best place in the world to see that. We heard that a third of Pompeii is still to be uncovered and excavated. The reason they hadn\u2019t done it is because everything you excavate, you then have to restore. So, they had stopped because they have so much still to restore. But in this case, part of the site was crumbling, and they wanted to neaten the edge. They decided to excavate the equivalent of a city block. It was the biggest excavation in a generation. Because of our ongoing relationship with Pompeii, we were able to get access to the excavation. Our pitch to them was that rather than having an outside historian coming in, we would foreground their archaeologists. They have a fabulous team, and, of course, they deal with it day to day. They were very excited to have their team front and center of an international series. But it did mean that there would be some Italian in it. One of the challenges for us was to go to broadcasters and say, You\u2019ll have to live with some subtitles. I didn\u2019t think that would be a problem because I thought of the interest in the subject area, but also, the younger generation doesn\u2019t care about subtitles. And when you\u2019ve got somebody discovering the body of a slave or whatever, and they\u2019re going, \u201cMamma mia!\u201d it adds a frisson of excitement! So, that was our pitch to them. We said, rather than paying a daily rate, let us be there for a significant chunk of time. That way, we can do our job better, and we\u2019re not getting in your way.<\/p>\n

The pitch to the broadcasters was that we\u2019ve got access to this wonderful dig. And they all said, What are we going to find? They always ask that when we\u2019re doing archaeological projects. But our answer is that we don\u2019t know. That\u2019s the process of archaeology, but it will be interesting. And, of course, in Pompeii, they will find something because daily life stopped in an instant. The BBC came in first and substantially, then ARTE in France, and PBS in the U.S. It has sold very well; All3Media International has done a wonderful job with it.<\/p>\n

We have a British-Italian team behind the camera, which is fantastic. Elena Mortelliti, the series\u2019 director, is an Anglo-Italian. Our DOP was Italian, and our producer was Italian. It means that they understand all the nuances of what\u2019s going on. It came together really well. They found a bakery, a laundry and the first-ever fresco of the pizza.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Which really wasn\u2019t a pizza; more of a focaccia!
\nBRADLEY:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, a focaccia! On the other side of the bakery wall, we found a dining room with black walls but with incredible frescoes. It was stunning. They think that on the other side of the bakery, there was a posh villa. That was very exciting.<\/p>\n

Very early on, we found the skeletons of two women and a little child. They think those were possibly slaves working in the bakery who couldn\u2019t escape. It\u2019s incredibly moving and so poignant. The archaeologists feel connected at that moment with the common humanity. The program got 3 million viewers on BBC Two. Each episode did really well on ARTE, with viewing figures up about 30 percent in France and double the audience in Germany. It did well on PBS, and everyone has come back in for the continuation.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0When you film, are you seeing archaeologists finding things in the moment?
\nBRADLEY:<\/strong>\u00a0It is absolutely key to us that this is an authentic process. In many archaeological digs, that can be quite painful. If you\u2019re digging in a muddy Scandinavian field looking for a Viking longship, it takes forever. In Pompeii, the volcanic lapilli [fragments of lava that fall to earth during an eruption] come away and are very light. It\u2019s like polystyrene beads used for packaging. So, archaeologists make incredible progress very often in a day.<\/p>\n

We plan our filming around moments when we know they\u2019re getting closer to ground level. The secret is to be on board with the archaeological team so that if they feel like they\u2019re getting to something, they call you in rather than try to keep you out, which can happen in other situations because they want to get on with their job. It was crucial that they felt able to bring us in at critical moments. If they found something, we would extend the shoots for several days to keep going. You get a sense that you, as the audience, are there, too. It\u2019s a ringside seat. What we\u2019re trying to do in some of these premium archaeological programs is give the audience the privileged access of being there when discoveries are made. And it is thrilling!<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0I also find these shows to be thought-provoking. We are surrounded by chaos today, but past civilizations were, too, and they were able to move on.
\nBRADLEY:<\/strong>\u00a0That would be Mary Beard\u2019s line. She would say that the Romans or the Ancients had to face almost all the issues we face today. They came up with solutions and answers and, as you say, got through it. So, these shows give some reassurance, but also a sense of understanding that we\u2019re not the first people to deal with these issues.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>So, technology drives progress, but people have not progressed? Are we just as greedy, power-hungry and selfish as we\u2019ve always been?
\nBRADLEY:\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s exactly right. But we are also as creative and inventive, so it\u2019s not all negative. One good example: I was there on the day they were pulling the volcanic lapilli back in one of the ruins, and they uncovered a set of workmen\u2019s tools\u2014picks, shovels and whatever\u2014all neatly lined up. The archaeologists who were uncovering them were using exactly the same tools today! So, you got the sense of two workmen having a conversation over 2,000 years! Then, you have wonderful restorers and artists looking at the frescoes in the black room with these exquisite pictures of Helen of Troy. Artists today would struggle to render things as beautifully as this. So, even with all the chaos and the challenges of running a society, these programs also remind you of all the good things about the human spirit and what we\u2019re capable of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The co-founder and chief creative officer discusses two new documentaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":22331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,69],"tags":[852,7851],"class_list":["post-22330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-lion-television","tag-richard-bradley","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nLion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The co-founder and chief creative officer discusses two new documentaries.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-04T13:50:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-09T15:13:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/12\/Richard-Bradley-Headshot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"361\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anna Carugati\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Carugati\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/\",\"name\":\"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-04T13:50:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-09T15:13:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/29356fdd67fb1b454e7b8e3d34042925\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/29356fdd67fb1b454e7b8e3d34042925\",\"name\":\"Anna Carugati\",\"description\":\"Anna Carugati is editor at large at World Screen.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/acarugatiworldscreen-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley - TVREAL","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley - TVREAL","og_description":"The co-founder and chief creative officer discusses two new documentaries.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/","og_site_name":"TVREAL","article_published_time":"2024-12-04T13:50:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-09T15:13:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":361,"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/12\/Richard-Bradley-Headshot.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anna Carugati","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anna Carugati","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/","name":"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley - TVREAL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-12-04T13:50:06+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-09T15:13:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/29356fdd67fb1b454e7b8e3d34042925"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/lion-televisions-richard-bradley\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lion Television\u2019s Richard Bradley"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/","name":"TVREAL","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/29356fdd67fb1b454e7b8e3d34042925","name":"Anna Carugati","description":"Anna Carugati is editor at large at World Screen.","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/acarugatiworldscreen-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/289"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}