Recent Media Releases for ITV

Starts on Sunday 15th November on ITV1 & ITV2
The award winning series is back with a brand new cast of celebrities preparing to leave their loved-ones and luxuries behind as they’re dumped in the middle of the Australian jungle with only the wildlife and each other for company.
Back for its ninth series, the toughest celebrity challenge on TV is set to return with a bang and this year our celebrities will face their toughest tasks as the boundaries are pushed to the limit.
The eleven celebrities heading into the jungle for series nine are: Lucy Benjamin, Gino D’Acampo, Camilla Dallerup, Sam Fox, George Hamilton, Stuart Manning, Colin McAllister, Justin Ryan, Sabrina Washington, Jimmy White and Kim Woodburn.   
Cut off from the outside world in one of the most hostile environments on earth, the personalities have just basic food rations to survive on and will have to undergo petrifying and stomach-churning challenges to win supplies.
Their celebrity status will count for nothing as they battle it out to be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle.
This year the infamous Bushtucker Trials are set to be the most terrifying yet and there will be plenty of new surprises to keep the celebrities on their toes every step of the way.
Ant and Dec are back presenting live from the jungle and keeping viewers up to date with all the latest gossip and news.  As always, the fate of the jungle VIPs rests firmly in the hands of the British public who will once again decide which celebrity will take on the dreaded Bushtucker Trials and who, ultimately, will win the coveted crown.
This year the show will be dedicating their support to a sole charity, Malaria No More UK (see enclosed press release for more information) with 15p from each 50p phone vote being donated to fighting one of the world’s most serious, preventable health crises.
Natalka Znak, Controller of Factual Entertainment at ITV Studios said; "I am delighted with the celebrities that have agreed to take part this year, they are a fascinating and fun group, who have no idea of what’s about to hit them. The surprises come thick and fast in this series and there's a shock in store right from the word go. I can't wait to see how they cope with it all and how they will get on with each other."
ITV2 returns with I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here Now! presented by Caroline Flack.  Joining Caroline is the current King of The Jungle Joe Swash and comedian Russell Kane.  The show will air on ITV2 after the ITV1 show.
I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! is an ITV Studios production for ITV1. The executive producers are Natalka Znak, Richard Cowles, Chris Brogden, the series editor is Rebecca Walker and series producer is Marty Benson
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here Now! Is an ITV Studios production for ITV2. The executive producer is Rachel Watson and series producer is Sarah Harris.
I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! is sponsored by Iceland.

- Britain’s Got Talent fans flock in their millions to find their favourite content
- 50m video views and 13m unique users in May
ITV.com, the home of ITV online, is celebrating its best-ever monthly performance as fans flocked to view their favourite acts from Britain’s Got Talent. For the month of May, total video views on itv.com were up 528% year on year.
On Sunday 31 May, the day after the broadcast of the finale of ITV1’s entertainment hit Britain’s Got Talent, ITV.com recorded 6m video views, taking the total for the series to over 55m video views, and more than 180,000 hours of content.  The online content complemented the channel’s broadcast performance which delivered the UK’s largest broadcast audience of the year so far with a staggering peak audience of 19.2m people watching the final on Saturday night.
Dominic Cameron, Managing Director of ITV.com, said: ”The teams at ITV.com and FremantleMedia Enterprises working together on Britain's Got Talent have been thrilled by the audience's passion and appetite for the best, original content - the behind the scenes stories, the exclusive videos, the entertaining polls and intimate photo galleries - everything we have produced has been consumed by millions of visitors online.
“A five-fold increase in video consumption is testament to the superb quality of the TV show, of the story-telling brought online, and to the web engineering and product design skills at ITV.com and its partners.
“We're also pleased to have succeeded in bringing hundreds of thousands of social media users to 'the home of Britain's Got Talent' on ITV.com via social networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook.”
Robert Marsh, VP, Interactive & Telephony, UK Licensing, FremantleMedia Enterprises, said: “We always look to innovate and evolve our programmes across multiple platforms and with Britain’s Got Talent we wanted to create a more immersive and interactive experience for users, which has definitely paid off. The site has exceeded all expectations in terms of video views, page views and visitors.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Britain’s Got Talent site on itv.com is designed and managed by FremantleMedia Enterprises.  FremantleMedia Enterprises is the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, offering a one-stop-shop for all Licensing, Distribution and Home Entertainment. It is a division of FremantleMedia, one of the largest international creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world with leading prime time drama, serial drama, entertainment and factual entertainment programming in over 40 countries worldwide.  FremantleMedia is a subsidiary of RTL Group, Europe's largest television and radio broadcast company, which is 90% owned by Bertelsmann AG, an integrated media and entertainment company that commands leading positions in the world's media markets.  For further information, visit http://www.fremantlemedia.com.

Football fans will be able to watch the real time buzz around the FA Cup final on ITV.com thanks to a unique experiment.
The broadcaster is integrating applications built around the successful micro blogging tool Twitter to reflect the online ‘noise’ generated by the clash between Everton and Chelsea on 30th May.
Twitterfall – a site which cascades comments made on Twitter - will be embedded into the football section of itv.com of the day of the game, allowing fans to see ‘tweets’ about the match as it progresses.
A tool developed by London company thruSITES will allow fans to see which of the players is generating the most chatter on Twitter. The players’ names and faces will appear alongside bars which will move up and down to reflect the buzz around players during the game. The tool will be available after the match so that fans can scrub along a timeline to see which players caused a buzz at crucial moments.
Fans will also be able to submit their thoughts using web based audio comment service AudioBoo. The application will allow iPhone users to submit their comments to the site for other fans to hear.
The tools will be available on the site on a special FA Cup Buzz page from around 1pm on 30th May. The page will be accessed via http://itv.com/football.
Earlier in the year ITV experimented with Twitter by enabling fans of Primeval to comment alongside the first episode of the first series. The experiment helped to generate thousand of tweets about the series and was followed up with Primeval writer James Moran taking over the Primeval Twitter feed for an episode.
ITV has built up a considerable presence on Twitter, with feeds for all its major shows and a popular feed for the network (http://twitter.com/itvinsider).
Dominic Cameron, MD of ITV.com, said: “Our experiments with social media show that fans of our shows, especially the big live events, love to share their thoughts with others on the web in real time. Social media can really transform the way we all enjoy those memorable moments on ITV.
“This experiment is a great way of reflecting the buzz about the game on our site and if it’s a success, will no doubt pave the way for more efforts to engage football fans in new and interesting ways.”
ENDS

Hey Upper East Siders, Gossip Girl here - your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite…
Every summer, the cream of Manhattan's elite descends upon the Hamptons for a break from the city, but before I serve up the dish you can't order from any caterer, let me remind you how we left things.
Everyone who's anyone was attending the joyful union of Lily Van Der Woodsen and Bart Bass. It was a truly tearjerking ceremony - I know I always cry every time an eligible wealthy older man goes off the market, anyway. So I guess this means Chuck Bass and Serena Van Der Woodsen are going to be one big, happy stepfamily.
Speaking of S, we hear that it's finally all over between her and Dan Humphrey after they realised they were just too different. I don't think they'll be lonely for too long: rumour has it S will be joined by Nate Archibald during her summer vacay - guess he needs something to take his mind off the part where his deadbeat dad deserted him and left him destitute, huh? Meanwhile, D was spotted hanging around Brooklyn with Vanessa Abrams, and my sources say they were looking pretty cosy…
Also spotted: Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass attempting a reconciliation of sorts of their on-again-off-again relationship at the reception, but despite their plans for a romantic getaway in Europe, we hear C hooked up with another wealthy socialite while B left accompanied by another man. Is Chuck out of B's life for good?
But that was all pre-summer, and now school's out and the rules have changed. I'll be sunning my fabulous self on a beach in East Hampton, but don't worry - I won't be neglecting my work. Scandal waits for no one, and you know I'll be the first one with all the illicit details.
And who am I? That's one secret I'll never tell. You know you love me. Xoxo, GossipGirl
ITV2 will show series two of Gossip Girl Wednesday nights at 9pm from the 21st January.  The DVD of series one is out now.  Go to www.itv.com/gossipgirl for an exclusive video interview with Chace Crawford who answers fans questions.
GOSSIP GIRL is based on the novels by Cecily von Ziegesar and executive produced by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.
GOSSIP GIRL stars Blake Lively (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Accepted), Leighton Meester (Surface, Veronica Mars, 24, Entourage), Penn Badgley (John Tucker Must Die, The Mountain, The Bedford Diaries, Do Over), Chace Crawford (The Covenant), Taylor Momsen (We Were Soldiers, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Underdog, Paranoid Park), Ed Westwick (Children of Men) with Kelly Rutherford (Melrose Place, E-Ring, The District, The Fugitive, Scream 3, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Homefront) and Matthew Settle (Into the West, Brothers & Sisters, ER, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Band of Brothers, U-571).  GOSSIP GIRL is a College Hill Pictures, Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Paramount Television Inc for ITV2.

New musical drama Britannia High is set to explode onto our television screens this autumn in a whirlwind of stunning dance, sensational music and unforgettable drama.
With original music composed by some of the biggest names in pop including Gary Barlow, Guy Chambers, Steve Mac, Mark Owen and Eliot Kennedy, Britannia High introduces six highly talented lead actors – Sapphire Elia, Georgina Hagen, Rana Roy, Mitch Hewer, Matthew James Thomas and Marcquelle Ward.
Created by acclaimed choreographer Arlene Phillips and theatre impresario David Ian and produced by the drama team in Manchester responsible for Coronation Street, Blue Murder and Mobile, the focus of Britannia High is a contemporary British performing arts school where the super-talented students study hard to achieve their dreams of stardom while learning important lessons about friendship, love and life. There’s also cameo appearances from some of the UK’s top recording artistes – Girls Aloud and Boyzone plus special guest appearances by Coronation Street’s Ryan Thomas, ex-Busted and I’m A Celebrity winner, Matt Willis, EastEnders and Hollyoaks actress, Gemma Bissex and comedian Richard Blackwood.
Creative Director of Choreography for Britannia High Arlene Phillips and David Ian are Executive Producers working with the ITV Productions team led by Series Producer and Lead Director Brian Grant, Producer Gareth Philips and Executive Producers Kieran Roberts, Mark Wells and for Globe Productions Anita Land, that spent six months selecting the drama’s performers who sing, dance and act in the fictional performing arts school.
In conjunction with Globe Productions, the television arm of Universal Music, Britannia High will be ITV’s most ambitious 360 degree, multi platform show to date. Extra content is planned on ITV.com, ITV mobile, ITV Red Button, ITV interactive and social networking site Bebo. Fascination Records (part of the Universal Music Group) will release an album of tracks featured in the series on November 17th.
Prior to this a number of free downloads will be made available via, itv.com/britanniahigh.com, britanniahigh.com and also a partnership with iTunes and Bebo, starting with the Gary Barlow / Eliot Kennedy / Ina Wroldsen penned theme tune “Start Of Something” on September 29th.
And in an unprecedented step for an ITV1 drama, the first episode will be available a week before network transmission at the Britannia High website – www.itv.com/britanniahigh and www.britanniahigh.com
During eight hour-long episodes and the 75 minute spectacular finale, the drama series explores the lives of the students, Claudine, Lauren, Danny, Lola, Jez and BB, as they attempt to learn how to make their mark on the world. They’re striving to be the best they possibly can be in every discipline and, as in life, there’s plenty of heartache, turmoil, laughs and fun along the way.  Supporting them throughout their trials and tribulations are Principal Nugent played by Mark Benton (The Street, City Lights), and dance mentor Stefan played by Adam Garcia (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Coyote Ugly). Lorraine Pilkington (Rough Diamond, Monarch of the Glen) also stars as music mentor Anna and Michele Austin (The Last Detective, The Bill) as eccentric landlady, Mrs Troy.
The extended finale episode will be the pinnacle of the storylines played out throughout the drama.  It will also feature showcase performances from the cast, who will sing, dance and act their hearts out for a specially invited studio audience.   
The Britannia High website will be the virtual home of the performing arts school, a place where fans can become involved with the ups and downs of life as a student, with exclusive episodes, blogs, photographs, e-newsletters and an online radio station presented by the two school DJs and featuring music by top Universal Artists. 
Social network Bebo, www.bebo.com/britanniahigh, will be the place to delve deeper into the worlds of the characters, and at the touch of the Red Button - available through Sky Digital - viewers will be able to enjoy preview and catch up video, read character profiles, check out photo galleries and take part in dance tutorials.
Fans can also visit the official Britannia High mobile site for free highlight clips of all the best bits from the series, news and gossip, plus mobile downloads including exclusive show wallpapers and tones.
Britannia High was commissioned by Paul Jackson, ITV Director of Entertainment and Comedy and Michaela Hennessy-Vass ITV Commissioning Editor, Comedy. Both feel really passionate about the project and have been involved at every step of production. “This is an exciting new format, and there isn’t anything else quite like it on British Television. We’re confident audiences are going to love it,” said Paul. “From the outset it was our intention to line up some of the biggest names in music and entertainment to make Britannia High.  We hope to captivate viewers with stories of these talented young people experiencing the time of their lives, as they struggle to realise their dreams and seize the moment.”