Virtual Grand National raises £2.6m for NHS Charities

Saturday’s Virtual Grand National, which ran on ITV, has raised £2.6 million for NHS Charities.

The race, which was produced by Rob McLoughlin’s Carm Productions, attracted 4.3 million viewers, a 28% audience share. The bookmakers are set to donate £2.6 million to NHS Charities Together, the umbrella organisation which represents more than 140 NHS charities.

Read more on the Prolific North website.

Rob McLoughlin reveals new HoC Speaker’s ‘severe’ health condition in exclusive TV documentary

A forthcoming TV documentary, Mr Speaker, about the House of Commons’ iconic role, has already revealed an exclusive.

Rob McLoughlin interviewed the new speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who revealed that he discovered he had Type 1 diabetes just days before the 2019 General Election. Full details are on the ITV news website.

The documentary is an exclusive for Carm Productions, the independent production company run by Rob, who is ITV’s longest-serving presenter of political programmes. Cameras will be following Sir Lindsay over the coming months as he adopts his new role.

“This is an astonishing moment for Britain. Our cameras are capturing the post Bercow, pre-Brexit changes as The Speaker now faces a huge government majority and demands to hold them more to account.”

For more details, visit the Prolific North website.

Rob McLoughlin speaks about the Jeremy Kyle Show

Rob McLoughlin discussed the tragic death which led to the cancellation of the Jeremy Kyle Show by ITV in peak time radio interviews on BBC Radio Five Live and on BBC Radio Wales.
He welcomed a Commons inquiry into ‘reality TV’ saying that ‘some good may come out of this tragedy’ as he also debated Kyle’s defence of the genre in interviews on Rob’s own radio shows.
He quoted examples from guests who had appeared on similar shows and claimed they had benefited but he recalled a conversation with one celebrity who had a ‘meltdown of sorts’ on Big Brother who he had privately suggested his planned appearance was ‘ill judged’. The celebrity eventually said the experience has been ‘cathartic’.
Rob said ITV were right to cancel the Kyle Show in the circumstances and argued that it probably didn’t match the brand values that channel aspired to.
The interviews were broadcast live and he has been asked to comment further on broadcast policy for other TV and radio programmes.
Rob was a Board Director and Senior Executive of Granada Television and a former Advisor to Granada Media and ITV plc.

Red Rum to run again!

The Virtual Grand National is back and this year features Red Rum racing again.

The Virtual Grand National, from CARM Producttions, will be broadcast on ITV4 at 8pm on 13 April, 2018, repeated Saturday morning14 April on  ITV4. The race highlights will be broadcast during ITV’s main Grand National coverage.

See the full story here and click below for the video trailer.