This evening sees the start of Britain’s Got Talent’s live semifinals, after a series of prerecorded auditions which, the addition of new judges Alesha Dixon and David Walliams aside, have been punctuated by several social media and second screen campaigns. The most visible characteristic element of these has been the use of on-air hashtags, encouraging Twitter users to use specific terms in their tweets.

At the tail end of this week, Peter Cassidy, Head of FremantleMedia UK Interactive kindly took time out from preparing for this weekend’s live shows to talk to The Stage about the series’ social media strategy.

TV Today: In terms of the lead-up to a show like Britain’s Got Talent, how early does the social media team get involved?

Peter Cassidy: It’s pretty much a continual process, to be honest with you. Social media on our big shows is pretty much a year-round activity. It really ramps up when the auditions are taking place and being recorded, which was way back in January, February time, and we work pretty much hand in hand with the production team.

While every show seems that it must have Twitter, Facebook and even app development these days, what piqued my interest was the use of on-screen hashtags, highlighting not only the acts involved but, say, a joke David Walliams has made. Who made the decision to take the approach that you did?

It was a joint decision between the interactive team and the executive producers of the show. People tend to use the act names anyway, so you don’t need to cite that. And we don’t want to be littering the show with hashtags, we try to keep the number down for people who are not on Twitter or don’t care. We don’t want it to be in their faces the whole time.

Two contrasting articles from different television magazines have caught my eye today. In today’s Radio Times, the TV listings magazine lists its top 20 closing moments, while SFX has picked their ten favourite pilot episodes.

Today marks the start of the BBC’s cross-network Shakespeare Unlocked season, part of the Corporation’s contribution to the 2012 Olympiad.

From Sunday, Radio 3 will devote its weekly Drama on 3 slot to new radio adaptations of three classic Shakespeare plays. The sequence starts with Twelfth Night, one of the Bard’s classic romantic comedies. It has a little bit of everything here: unrequited love triangles, drunken comedic characters, wilful pricking of pompous characters, sequences of jokes based on the double meanings of words and phrases, and of course a cross-dressing character (which, as all actors would have been male in Shakespeare’s age, can only leave us guessing at the physical work needed for a man to play a woman who is passing herself off as a man).

When I first heard that Ricky Gervais’ new comedy drama, Derek, would see the writer play an adult with severe learning disabilities, I was apprehensive. This, after all, is a man who just months ago was using pejorative terms for people with disabilities. On the other hand, the same Guardian writer who criticised him in that piece had previously — and quite rightly — praised him and writing partner Stephen Merchant for improving the representation of disabled characters on screen.

True, Gervais and Merchant’s most recent series, Life’s Too Short, came in for some criticism — but, having read the autobiography of its star and co-creator Warwick Davis (and interviewed him for a 2010 edition of The Stage Podcast), I do think that series does not deserve any criticism towards its portrayal of short people in general. My main beef with that series was it seemed to retread ideas and situations which had already been mined to death in The Office and Extras.

But still, Gervais’s stock in trade is making humour out of situations that skirt close to offensiveness — even in interview situations, such as during this recent conversation with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, where (in a segment not in that clip) he suggested that Nazis were “stupid” for not finding Anne Frank earlier. So I was apprehensive about Derek.

I needn’t have been. It turned out to be a beautiful, warm story of people who need love, who give love and yet are all too often sidelined in society.

“It’s time. To face. The Light Entertainment!”

Well, not quite. Unlike its Thames TV stablemate, Britain’s Got Talent doesn’t utilise voiceover supremo Peter Dickson - but the new series is back bigger, better and slicker than ever on Saturday.

I was in the audience for yesterday’s press launch, which saw episode 1 played out in glorious HD within the National Film Theatre at BFI Southbank. And the first thing you notice (apart from the cheesy pop video at the start, in which Ant & Dec mime to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, backed by a huge array of variety acts) is a new, slick editing and presentational style.

In my last post about social media and television and how the two interact, there’s one area of interaction I deliberately didn’t even mention: how to cope with spoilers.

While social media has contributed to more people watching live TV to share in the experience together, and to discuss it afterwards, there’s still a sizeable audience for every drama that doesn’t see each episode directly as it goes out. Whether it’s via Sky+ or other timeshifting, or viewing whole series in DVD box sets, somebody else may not have seen as much of a drama as you have, so what to you is a dissection of that crucial plot point could, to someone else, be an ominous spoiler.

Thanks to CollegeHumor.com and some famous faces from US television, we can now get some semblance of how to treat spoilers - and the people who leak them.

Over on his daily theatre blog today, Mark Shenton looks at the growing, insatiable need of audiences to share their theatregoing experience during the show itself.

And he’s right — while social media has done much to improve the marketing of shows both before and after performances, enabling savvy theatre PRs to work in conjunction with naturally occurring word-of-mouth, some people’s constant insistence on sharing during a performance is a distraction not only to audiences, cast members, but also to the tweeters themselves. To them I say, for goodness’ sake — and I say this as a long-standing and voluminous Tweeter myself — learn to put your phone down and enjoy the craft in front of you.

(A quick side note — one combination of theatre and Twitter that Mark’s post doesn’t mention is A Younger Theatre’s project, announced yesterday, that will give selected tweeters the chance to give live feedback from backstage at the Royal Opera House as the Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet is broadcast live to over 700 cinemas. That’s using Twitter less for gossip, more for realtime journalism, and is to be commended.)

But back to audiences, and while tweeting live is disruptive to theatre, television’s another matter. If you tweet during a broadcast from the comfort of your own front room, the only people you’re going to disturb are possibly (with the exception of family and friends who may be in the room with you) are other people on Twitter.

And there’s every sign that, in the age of iPlayer and the commercial channels’ equivalents, realtime social media is helping to bolster audiences watching a show as it is broadcast, so that they can converse with the rest of the audience.

This week, BBC Radio 4 will broadcast the last five Afternoon Plays. Ever.

Don’t panic — the station will continue to be the UK’s primary source of audio drama. But as of February 18, pretty much all of the station’s regular (non-Archers) slots are getting new names:

• Afternoon Play becomes Afternoon Drama
• Friday Play (when it’s on) becomes Friday Drama
• Saturday Play becomes Saturday Drama
• Woman’s Hour Drama becomes 15 Minute Drama

The last in the list is a bit of an oddity, but is presumably being renamed to account for the slot’s regular evening repeat and that its content matter isn’t always as female-centric as its current name would otherwise suggest. It does rather highlight that Woman’s Hour itself could be better named Forty Five Minutes of Covering Stuff That Ought Not to be Marginalised Elsewhere in the Schedules but Sadly Is. But I digress.

The reason for the name change is, according to a blog post by drama commissioning editor Jeremy Howe:

The drama on Radio 4 is part of the BBC’s drama push whose tag line is Original British Drama - you will see it on your screens shortly - and we decided that this was an opportunity to bring the drama output on Radio 4 into line with the rest of the BBC.

Which is fine as far as it goes. For the most part, it makes no difference whether the 2.15-3pm slot Monday-Friday is called the Afternoon Play or the Afternoon Drama. Indeed, given the number of short series that run in the slot (like Pilgrim or Number 10) the name “Drama” is perhaps more all-encompassing than “Play”, which implies each programme in the slot is a one-off.

But back when Howe wrote his blog post, what struck in my craw a bit was the rather sniffy tone in which he sought to separate his slots’ content from other areas where the term “play” might also, validly, be used.

Last night, the BBC held its first ever audio drama awards ceremony, which — as the name suggests — has been set up to honour the talents of writers, producers and directors working in audio drama, whether that be for a radio production or something produced online.

And the event, held at the BBC’s Broadcasting House in central London, had a lovely vibe to it — one that reminded me somewhat of the BAFTA Craft Awards, which are held every year to recognise the talents of those working behind the scenes on television dramas.

What I mean by this is that, unlike other awards, there didn’t seem to be any egos around. It wasn’t about stars and celebrities. It was — aside from the three acting awards — more about those people who actually make the shows. A true celebration of the genre.

It was a shame then that David Tennant, who hosted the awards and who won the prize for best actor, couldn’t bring himself to say a few words to The Stage about the importance of this event and its significance to the sector.

In my job, I hear regularly from people who feel radio drama often goes unnoticed - its writers, directors and actors all too often unsung.

So you would imagine that David, as presenter and winner, could at least have spared just a few moments at the party afterwards to share his thoughts and sing the praises of this new ceremony, which many people in radio have long called for.

You would think, perhaps, the BBC might have even asked him to do so as part of his duty as presenter. After all, it’s in the BBC’s interest to have its talent praising such initiatives in an effort to raise its profile.

To be fair to him, I didn’t hear what his excuse for not wanting to talk to The Stage was. A PR from the BBC approached him on my behalf and came back, apologetically, to say he would really rather not talk.

But I have to say I found this rather disappointing, and went against the spirit of the evening.

I said earlier there didn’t seem to be any egos around. Maybe I should take that back. Perhaps, just perhaps, there was the one.

If you give a documentary an all-encompassing title like The Story of Musicals, but then only devote three hours’ worth of airtime, it’s inevitable that some areas will be glossed over.

BBC4’s documentary series, which finished last night (but is currently still available on iPlayer), started two weeks ago by relating how the West End moved from its post-war tradition of receiving Broadway transfers, with vibrant new practitioners — Joan Littlewood, Lionel Bart, Sandy Wilson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, etc. — taking the Great White Way on at its own game. The second show concentrated on the 1980s blockbuster musical, as Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Les Miserables, Starlight Express and the like eschewed jazz hands in favour of crazy costumes, customised theatres and/or barrel loads of existential revolutionary angst.

Last night’s episode raced through the last two decades, charting the rise of the jukebox musical, notably We Will Rock You and the rather more critically acclaimed Mamma Mia!.

And while it’s always great to see such a fundamental part of the West End — nay, British — cultural life getting recognition from the box in the corner, there did seem to be some glaring omissions. So many that one has to wonder what the selection criteria were when deciding what to cover.

2012 will mark the 30th anniversary of Channel 4, which started broadcasting on November 2, 1982. To mark the start of a year of celebrations, last night saw The Channel 4 Mash Up, in which various programmes crossed over with each other.

Real estate expert Phil Spencer turned into the host of The Million Pound Drop, presiding over the show’s regular presenter, Davina McCall, and her father as they attempted to keep hold of as much money as possible. Spencer’s Location Location Location place was taken by comedian and chat show host Alan Carr, who sparked with both the show’s househunter and co-host Kirstie Allsopp.

That was a highlight of the evening, followed by the regulars of 8 out of 10 Cats partaking in an abbreviated game of Countdown — a fun edition marred only by the objectification of the female regulars, as noted by Caitlin Moran:

Great how the 8 Out Of 10 Cats boys have come on Countdown and immediately sexually objectified the clever women #c4mashup

— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) January 2, 2012

A Susie Dent pen that shows her naked, and Jimmy Carr staring at Rachel Riley through binoculars. Great.

— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) January 2, 2012

Those shows were light years in quality above the execrable Come Dine With Me with four of the cast members of Made in Chelsea. With all four diners already knowing each other well, even Dave Lamb’s even-more-sneering-than-usual commentary couldn’t save the whole thing from turning into a ridiculous farrago.

Annoyingly, though, CDWM kept popping up throughout the show, dominating an evening which only touched on a small segment of Channel 4’s output. Where was the scripted comedy and drama? No Hollyoaks. No Shameless. No Fresh Meat. No Peep Show. No IT Crowd. No Skins (although see below).

Jamie Foreman is a recent addition to the cast of EastEnders, playing the elder brother of the Branning clan, Derek — a black sheep in a family full of them.

The soap’s blog is currently running a daily Advent Calendar, and today’s entry is a short clip of Foreman giving some tips to aspiring actors. Given the number of emails and messages we get here at The Stage from hopefuls who’d like to be in EastEnders, his advice will possibly be useful.

And if you have worked hard throughout your drama school training but still feel you need some help in nailing that all-important audition, did you know The Stage has recently launched a series of courses?

The Stage Events is launching with a range of half-day, expert-led courses, including How to nail your audition, How to get seen by the right people and for those still in the education stage of their career, How to fund your training.

Each course costs just £39 excluding VAT - so will make a great Christmas present to yourself or for the actor in your family. For more details, visit our new website at thestage.co.uk/events.

Today, ITV announced a raft of new commissions in its two long-running series of Agatha Christie adaptations.

The most eye-catching of the commissioning news is that David Suchet, who has played Hercule Poirot for the broadcaster since 1989, will achieve his goal of filming all of Christie’s stories featuring the Belgian detective.

Five feature-length dramas have been commissioned, including The Labours of Hercules, which in published form is a collection of twelve linked short stories. The cycle will come to a fitting close with Curtain, Poirot’s last case which sees Poirot revisit the scene of his very first case.

It’s a phenomenal achievement for any broadcaster to have completed the full run like this and is testament to Suchet’s portrayal, which has so perfectly fleshed out Christie’s eccentric creation.

But what’s more surprising about the ITV announcement is that Julia McKenzie will, in summer next year, reprise her role as Jane Marple in an adaptation of A Caribbean Mystery. Unusually for ITV’s Marple series, this Agatha Christie work actually includes Miss Marple in the original text.

In yet another format tweak, Strictly Come Dancing this coming weekend moves further away from ballroom competition to light entertainment fluff by having a Broadway week.

Leaving aside the question of why the British Broadcasting Corporation decided not to refer to it as West End week and therefore highlight UK rather than US theatre, it’s an interesting move that should at least highlight the delights of musical theatre, even if it’s likely (as indicated by the video above) that they’ll concentrate on the narrow, populist end of the spectrum. Chances of a dance routine choreographed to a number from London Road are, I suspect, slim.

Anyway, it’s nice to see Jason Donovan donning Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat once again. I’m not in a position to comment on Len Goodman’s comment about preferring Phillip Schofield in the role - the only professional actors I’ve seen don the coat have been BBC’s Any Dream Will Do winner Lee Mead, and (showing my age here) Jess Conrad at the Vaudeville Theatre.

A few years ago, I would never miss an episode of Strictly and would Sky+ every episode of It Takes Two. In recent years, as the format has been pulled apart and stuck back together and the show becomes less about learning to dance and more about flinging props around without falling over, I’ve become less enamoured. But my love of musical theatre means that I shall be watching this weekend’s shows with interest.

I won’t be watching Saturday’s show live, though. Because I’ll be out in the West End - and not Broadway…

It is impossible to watch the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, which starts on the CBBC Channel on Monday, without feeling horribly conflicted.

First and most importantly, there is the joy. Joy at a children’s drama series that has shown that - in a genre where primary colours and slapstick tend to dominate - imagination, wonder and emotional truth still have their place. Joy at a series which spun off from Doctor Who with such confidence that it hasn’t felt the need to constantly reinvent itself (yes, Torchwood, I’m looking at you). Joy at a show that knows that, while it is squarely aimed at children aged 6 to 12, the audience doesn’t mind that their heroes are older kids led by a woman in her sixties.

But there’s also sadness. This series is half the length of previous ones - three two-part stories instead of the usual six, which were recorded contiguously with series 4. And then we lost Elisabeth Sladen, who had played Sarah Jane Smith since Jon Pertwee’s last series of Doctor Who. 

So these final three adventures become an unintended finale for a drama which showed no signs of having any intention of getting tired. The good news is that, for the most part, these final stories demonstrate everything that is special about The Sarah Jane Adventures and its regular cast.