It follows Perry’s BAFTA Award-winning All In the Best Possible Taste (Channel 4 2012), which explored British tastes and used Perry’s discoveries as inspiration for a work of art – The Vanity of Small Differences, a narrative series of six tapestries which was recently acquired for the nation.

Grayson Perry: Who Are You? (w/t) has been greenlit by Tabitha Jackson, Commissioning Editor, Arts who said: ““Grayson’s skill is not just as an artist, and now a BAFTA-award winning television presenter, but as an artist-anthropologist. This gives us a unique opportunity to explore the texture of contemporary life and to understand it in a different way. Identity is a complex subject, as was Taste, and this new series promises to be as enlightening, entertaining and as culturally relevant.”

Last year Grayson Perry signed a two-year exclusive deal with Channel 4 .

Congratulations to everyone who worked on the series.

http://awards.bafta.org/award/2013/television/specialist-factual

The documentary will follow one single man and one single woman who’ve never met as they turn detectives on each other’s lives in an attempt to answer that all important question: why am I still single?

Here’s C4′s press release:

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/programme-information/why-am-i-still-single-w-t

Here’s a link to the press release:

http://www.bafta.org/press/nominations-announced-for-the-arqiva-british-academy-television-awards-in-2013,260,SNS.html

Here’s a link:

http://www.rts.org.uk/nominations-rpa

Seneca would like to congratulate Grayson on his nomination and everyone who contributed to making the series such a success.

The BPG Awards are voted for by journalists who write about TV and radio, and recognise outstanding programmes and performances seen or heard in the preceding year.

Here’s a link to a story and the full list of nominations:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/feb/07/parades-end-broadcasting-press-guild-awards

It was a great end to 2012 for Seneca with a number of national newspapers highlighting our series All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry in their round-ups of 2012′s TV.

The Independent on Sunday proclaimed it ‘Documentary of the Year’, saying: “What could have been patronising gubbins asked all the right questions, offered astute observations and thrived off Perry’s ability to balance warmth and intellect.”

Here’s the link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/review-of-2012-television-8433131.html?origin=internalSearch

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times said the following:

“Best Arts programming, by a mile Grayson Perry’s In the Best Possible Taste, on Channel 4, about the conception, inception, and creation of his class-themed tapestries, was an arresting way to bring art to the small screen in a year that saw the continued decline in cultural broadcasting.”

We look forward to bringing you more programmes in 2013!

This major work, gifted by the artist and the Victoria Miro Gallery, and supported by Channel 4, Sfumato Foundation and the Art Fund, gives the widest possible audience the chance to see this major work.

Here’s the story -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20553415

http://www.broadcastawards.co.uk/shortlist

Seneca would like to thank and congratulate everyone who worked on the production.

Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman

And:

What is Beauty?

The Grierson Awards commemorate the work of pioneering Scottish film maker John Grierson (1898 – 1972), famous for making Drifters and his association with Night Mail – the man widely regarded as the father of the documentary.

Established in 1972, the Griersons annually celebrate documentaries that have made a significant contribution to the form. The list of past winners – which includes Penny Woolcock, Norma Percy, Molly Dineen, Nick Broomfield, Kim Longinotto, Paul Watson, Angus Macqueen and Pawel Pawlikowski – is testament to the high standard of work which is celebrated through these awards. They are the ultimate UK prizes for documentary film-makers from across the globe.

Here’s the full story -

http://www.griersontrust.org/grierson-awards-the-british-documentary-awards/awards-ceremony.html

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/in-the-best-possible-taste-grayson-perry/4od

“One of the TV highlights of the year so far…a hugely entertaining, and often revelatory, piece of television.” (Five stars out of five. James Walton, The Telegraph)

“All in the Best Possible Taste is a terrific series. Whereas Melvyn Bragg’s films on class worried at the subject, Perry’s easefully turns anthropology into aphorism (middle class culture is “the vanity of small differences”) and then into remarkably successful tapestries…Perry, an artist, not critic, has come think, and to celebrate.” (Five stars out of five. Andrew Billen, The Times)

“A fearless and sneerless study of class and taste.” (Sam Wollaston, The Guardian)

Here’s the C4 press release:

“Channel 4 has signed one of Britain’s leading artists, Grayson Perry, in a two year exclusive deal.

Grayson’s recent series, ’All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry’, was directed by Neil Crombie for Seneca productions and has received widespread critical acclaim. In the three-part series Grayson made his way through the taste tribes of Britain, observing our taste, exploring the details of modern life and revealing what they tell us about ourselves through his artwork.

In each episode, he embedded himself with people from across our social spectrum – the working classes of Sunderland, the middle classes of Tunbridge Wells and the upper classes of the Cotswolds – in a bid to get to grips with our differing takes on taste. He shopped, ate, drank and socialised with his hosts, learning about and taking part in the revealing rituals of the Great British public.

At the end of his journey, he created six imposing tapestries called ‘The Vanity of Small Differences’ – his personal but panoramic take on the taste of 21^st century Britain. The tapestries are currently on display at the Victoria Miro gallery in London until 11 August.

The series was commissioned by Channel 4 Arts Commissioning Editor Tabitha Jackson, who will be working with Grayson and Seneca productions on upcoming projects building on the success of All in the Best Possible Taste. He continues to be fascinated by aesthetics and modern manners – and a new series from Seneca has already been green-lit to deliver next year.

Jackson said: ‘I’m delighted that Grayson has agreed to continue the creative partnership which produced the taste series. His skill not just as an artist, but as an artist-anthropologist somewhere between William  Hogarth and Bruce Parry, gives us a unique opportunity to really explore the texture of contemporary life and to understand it in a different way.’”

Here’s a link to the article in today’s Media Guardian -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/21/grayson-perry-channel-4-deal?newsfeed=true

And a blog post following the announcement -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/jun/21/grayson-perry-tv-documentary?CMP=twt_fd

“One of the TV highlights of the year so far…a hugely entertaining, and often revelatory, piece of television.” (Five stars out of five. James Walton, The Telegraph)

“Grayson Perry concluded his glorious, inspired and incisive investigation into modern British taste and concomitant neat gutting and filleting of that slippery fish, the class system, with a visit to its upper reaches… Rigorous, intelligent and intuitive, Perry never opened his mouth without either providing fresh insight himself or extracting it from his subject….For the first time ever, I became determined to visit a work of art. The man is clearly, in every way, a genius.” (Lucy Mangan, The Guardian)

“His character – open, funny, generous – has been a big part of the success of these programmes. It’s impossible to think of another Turner Prize winner who could fit so disarmingly into so many different social spaces, particularly given that he arrived with avowedly anthropological intent, to probe and analyse their definition of what is finest in life…If you didn’t see the series it’s what catch-up television was made for.” (Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent)

“He has the inquisitiveness and questioning skills of a journalist, the original thought and ideas of a brainiac, the imagination of an artist. But he also has the ability to get on with and talk to normal people that few journalists, brainiacs or artists have. The tapestry reveal at the end, when his subjects come to a London gallery to see what he’s done, is a nice touch, adds the gentlest hint of reality TV to proceedings. And it’s about class and taste, possibly the two most interesting subjects there are. All of which adds up to a fabulous work of television.” (Sam Wollaston, The Guardian)

“[Grayson Perry's] All in the Best Possible Taste is a terrific series. Whereas Melvyn Bragg’s films on class worried at the subject, Perry’s easefully turns anthropology into aphorism (middle class culture is “the vanity of small differences”) and then into remarkably successful tapestries…Perry, an artist, not critic, has come think, and to celebrate.” (Five stars out of five. Andrew Billen, The Times)

“Transvestite potter Grayson Perry’s Channel 4 series on class – All in the Best Possible Taste – is fabulous. The man’s a superb presenter: gentle, cheeky, direct yet not offensive, and intelligent.” (Serena Davies, The Telegraph)

Here’s a link to the feature -

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4367340/Its-sew-modern-Britain-Cross-dressing-artist-Grayson-Perry-uses-tapestries-to-explore-the-lives-we-lead.html

“His tapestries are ornate invitations for us to stamp out our snobbery. His programme: a beautifully stitched living portrait of a class, a city and an artist.” (Alex Hardy, The Times)

“Gosh, I loved Grayson Perry’s joyful trip to working-class Sunderland this week to examine ‘taste’… Grayson found meaning, emotional depth and tenderness in spray-tan colour charts, bulging muscles, and the ‘tits out vs legs-out’ conundrum.” (Grace Dent, The Independent)

“Perry is a cultured and clever trannie, possibly one of the most cultured and clever transvestites this country has ever produced. On camera, he is able to organise complex and abstract thoughts, and explain them with an unpatrician clarity, without art snobbery…It reminded us that one of the oldest purposes of art is to elevate and memorialise.” (AA Gill, The Sunday Times)

“A fearless and sneerless study of class and taste.” (Sam Wollaston, The Guardian)

“All in the Best Possible Taste was exactly the sort of thing that ought to have been on BBC2 yet was over on Channel 4 (and kudos to the station for commissioning it).” (Clare Heal, Sunday Express)

“Superlative safari through the taste tribes of Britain.” (Mike Bradley, The Observer)

“As he flitted easily from tattoo parlours to nightclubs, he emerged as a remarkable social chameleon, equally at home talking martial arts and motors with the lads, as he was talking fake tan and knick-knacks with the lasses…There was no judging or patronising, just an honest effort to show it the way it is.” (Keith Watson, Metro)

“Articulate and down to earth and wearing his eclectic erudition lightly, Perry is a natural presenter.” (Mark Hudson, The Telegraph)

“A self-styled working-class Essex boy who has spent most of his life in the middle-class world of modern art, Perry made for a likeable and thoughtful interlocutor – Theroux-like in his naive questioning, but with an artist’s penetrating eye for detail.”  (Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent)

“Perry, who is funny, wise and perceptive, is graciously accepted wherever he goes. In turn, he never judges and never makes fun.” (Radio Times)

If you missed the first episode, it’s available to view on 4OD -

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/in-the-best-possible-taste-grayson-perry/4od

Tune in next Tuesday, 12th June, at 10 pm on Channel 4 to see what Grayson makes of the middle classes…

The series follows Grayson Perry, one of Britain’s leading artists and winner of the Turner Prize, as he goes on safari through the taste tribes of Britain, not just to observe our taste, but to tell us in an artwork what it means. The work he’ll be creating is a series of six imposing tapestries called ‘The Vanity of Small Differences’ – his personal but panoramic take on 21^st century British taste.

In each episode, he’ll embed himself with people from across our social spectrum – the working classes of Sunderland, the middle classes of Tunbridge Wells and the upper classes of the Cotswolds – in a bid to get to grips with our differing takes on taste.

“incisive, funny and fearless” (Radio Times)

“His insights are direct and without pretension. Thoroughly refreshing.” (The Guardian)

“affecting and illuminating” **** (Time Out, four stars)

“Grayson Perry shows he is also an insightful social commentator in this highly enjoyable opening episode.” (The Sunday Times)

“Perry’s refreshingly unarty and direct approch proves very effective.” (Mail on Sunday)

If you haven’t seen the C4 trailer yet, here’s a link -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-smRMFgmOE

Presented by Grayson Perry

Camera: Louis Caulfield; Sound: Adam Scourfield; Production Manager: Sarah McHarry; Editor: Jake Martin; Producers: Juliet Riddell, Emily Jeal, Joe Evans; Executive Producer: Dinah Lord

Directed by Neil Crombie

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/in-the-best-possible-taste-grayson-perry

The film can viewed on YouTube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9trd3Uevy2M&list=HL1336120732&feature=mh_lolz

In ‘The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’, Turner Prize-winning artist Perry invited us on a pilgrimage: saluting the ‘travel’ experience generated by the museum, we were to call at the historical and cultural stations that have informed our imaginative world and material output.

Here’s a link to the full story -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17907008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/mar/25/grayson-perry-interesting-thing-damien-hirst?intcmp=122

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/26/jane-austen-portrait-world-book-day

The portrait is on display at Bodleian Library in Oxford on 1st March – World Book Day.

As reported in today’s Independent, the portrait will be going on display to the public at the Bodleian Library in Oxford on March 1st as part of the celebrations for World Book Day, before moving to Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton this April.

Here’s the full story:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/jane-austen-is-back-in-the-frame-6699551.html

You can watch a live stream of the event, organised by Run Riot, here -

http://www.run-riot.com/articles/notices/watch-1q2-debate-religion-alain-de-botton-online-live-24th-january

2011 ended on an upbeat note for us with the transmission of Jane Austen: the Unseen Portrait? on Boxing Day. It picked up some great notices in the press:

“Kearney joins biographer Dr Paula Byrne in an effort to determine the provenance of a modest portrait of Austen previously dismissed as inauthentic. Ink dating and facial recognition techniques are deployed, while Byrne’s zealousness is challenged by a rookery of haughty types in tweed. Don’t miss.” (The Guardian)

“An intriguing piece of detective work that throws light on Regency social mores, class and gender roles, as well as our own desire to read Austen as 19th C chicklit”. (Time Out)

You can follow the evolving story of investigations into the portrait on Dr Paula Byrne’s twitter feed – http://twitter.com/austenportrait

Here’s to a wonderful 2012!

It charts the attempt to authenticate a possible new portrait of Jane Austen and, since the story broke earlier this month, it has been reported around the world from the US to India.

The documentary has been picking up some great previews, including one published in yesterday’s Sunday Times:

“This is a remarkable documentary for a number of reasons. First, the premise itself, which asks if the Austen scholar Paula Byrne has found a picture of the author, who until now has only been reliably represented in the public imagination by a ‘rough little scribble’. Byrne’s quest for authentication is thrilling, but the film is unusual for its preponderence of fierce female academics, a species rarely seen on television.”

Will the picture stand up to forensic analysis and scrutiny by art historians and Austen experts? And if it does, how might it change our perception of one of Britain’s most revered writers? Jane Austen: The Unseen Portrait? (9pm, Mon 26 Dec, BBC Two) follows the investigation behind one of the literary world’s most exciting art works.

Janice Hadlow, Controller, BBC Two: “Jane Austen: The Unseen Portrait? will sit at the heart of our Christmas schedule and will be a fascinating chance for the BBC Two audience to delve deeper into the life of one of Britain’s best-loved authors.”

An interview with Dr Paula Byrne is featured in the Christmas edition of the Radio Times which goes on sale today. The news has been reported in The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Guardian, BBC World News, New York Times and Toronto Star.  

Presented by: Martha Kearney

Camera: Nick Plowright; Sound: Tim Watts; Production Manager: Linda Stradling; Associate Producer: Lucy Evans; Editor: Philippa Daniel; Producer: Joe Evans; Executive Producer for the BBC: Adam Barker

Executive Producer: Liz Hartford

Produced and Directed by Neil Crombie

Grayson Perry on Taste takes Perry on a journey from the English country house to a girl’s night out in Sunderland. He will then use the experience as the inspiration for a major new work comprising a set of six tapestries that will tour nationwide.

“I spent thirty years building up and honing my North London middle class prejudices about other people’s bad taste,” says Perry. “Now I have taken those prejudices on safari with me to meet the various tribes that make up the British class system. “

Tabitha Jackson, Channel 4′s commissioning editor for arts, said: “I want our arts output to contain films with artists rather than about artists, to be about using artists as guides rather than simply offering guides to artists. This is the spine of our on-going mission – to try to reassert television as an artistically vibrant and experimental medium and use it to get the truth of what it is like to be us.”

This is what The Times said about the show: “Television at its best can take you to strange and fascinating places, and few places are stranger than inside the mind of Grayson Perry.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b016ycnn/Imagine_Winter_2011_Grayson_Perry_and_the_Tomb_of_the_Unknown_Craftsman/

“Television at its best can take you to strange and fascinating places, and few places are stranger than inside the mind of Grayson Perry.” (The Times)

“Chronicling the two-year gestation of Grayson Perry’s most ambitious work, this delightful documentary follows the sculptor’s collaboration with the British Museum.” (The Guardian)

“There’s always a danger that Grayson Perry’s appearances dressed as his outlandish altar ego Claire take the focus away from his work. But this profile redresses the balance. He’s a thougtful, knowing and charismatic interviewee…” (Radio Times - it also contains an in-depth interview with Grayson)

“Sometimes Imagine can seem thrown together, but not so here. We follow the genial Grayson a year in advance of his great big British Museum adventure…He also makes intelligent, interesting and occasionally hilarious asides… He devours the camera, much to the curtailment of Alan Yentob’s hour.” (Time Out ****)

“In a wonderfully daft move, Perry travels through Germany on a pink motorbike, with Alan (Measles, not Yentob) on the rear…an intriguing portrait.” (The Telegraph)

Presenter and Series Editor: Alan Yentob; Camera: Louis Caulfield and Nick Plowright; Sound: Adam Scourfield and Richard Meredith; Production Manager: Jo Sear; Editor: Clare Palmer; Executive Producer: Andrea Miller

Produced and Directed by Neil Crombie

Alan Yentob, the editor and presenter of Imagine, says: “So much in this season of Imagine sees artists in the process of creation, giving viewers a rare and fascinating insight into how great art is made.”

More information on the season can be found here -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/10_october/14/imagine.shtml

Here’s a link to the British Museum’s site -

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/grayson_perry.aspx

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/17/grayson-perry-tomb-craftsman-museum

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4thoughttv

Here’s a link to the interview -

http://realscreen.com/2011/06/01/for-next-week-seneca-looks-to-the-u-s/