Tony Jordan

My TV hero: Tony Jordan on Alan Partridge

Life Of Mars producer Tony Jordan says: "I learned everything I know about pitching a television series from Alan Partridge."

So Echo Beach is no more. But it's better, cleverer, funnier half returns with producer Jonathan Pope explaining to his team of writers exactly why it was cancelled. "It was s*** and nobody watched it."

I couldn't have put it better myself - and a big part of what makes this series so good is its callous, unrose-tinted view of TV from the inside looking out.

By a series of events too ludicrous to explain, series two sees Jonathan put at the helm of a brand new drama pilot about zombies.

His writers reckon this is a terrible idea. They point out that ITV has never made a zombie drama before - even though the success of films like Shaun Of The Dead and 28 Days Later suggest the network should really think about producing more zombie shows - not less.

In any event, as the old Echo Beach signage is quickly painted over and replaced by the new logo for Renaissance, competing writers Tom and Carl look set to live through their lead characters by naming them Tim and Kyle.

But Moving Wallpaper is still absolutely the Jonathan Pope show. Thanks to writer Tony Jordan giving him all the best lines and Ben Miller's brilliantly spiky performance, Pope is one of those appalling, self-serving characters who absolutely deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as David Brent and Basil Fawlty.

His trump card tonight sees him signing up his first cast member - Kelly Brook. And to think people laughed at Jason Donovan.

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe took time off from spewing cheery vitriol across the television schedules to interview writers about the craft of writing.

These were clearly writers that Brooker admired, so his interview technique was disconcertingly sympathetic. The end result was a masterclass from such luminaries as Russell T Davies, Paul Abbott, Tony Jordan and Graham Linehan. All of whom spoke wittily and winningly about the combination of prevarication, panic and perspiration that produces a television script.

Ironically, the most pertinent point of a fascinating 50 minutes was made by a writer who wasn't even present. Abbott quoted Jimmy McGovern on the ever prickly problem of presenting exposition in dialogue: 'I would rather be confused for ten minutes than bored for five seconds.'

Series 2 preview interview with Tony Jordan

Moving Wallpaper creator Tony Jordan talks to Digital Spy about the second series of the show.

Interview with ITV Drama Controller

Laura Mackie on Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach: "Would I commission that again? Yes I would. Because it was Tony Jordan, it was Kudos, it was an absolute passion project for Tony. Of course we had conversations about television about television, and we knew the two shows were pointing in slightly different directions - and I think clearly Echo Beach didn't deliver in the way we hoped. But what we felt standing back from it was that elements of Echo Beach, when woven into Moving Wallpaper, actually worked very well."

Hollywood Reporter Article

Comedies set behind the scenes at television shows have met with varying success in the past, but Tony Jordan's Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach goes one step further by combining backstage antics with the finished product.

After all the years presiding over those miserable EastEnders, former story consultant Tony Jordan is having a laugh at soap's expense. He's set this in Cornwall, a lifestyle as far from Walford as you can imagine - though it looks just as cold.

It's rare that you see something totally new on TV and this two-shows-in-one concept is a real revelation. I reckon you'll love it.

Moving Wallpaper shows the (fictional) behind-the-scenes birth of soap Polnarren - soon to be renamed and sexed up by incoming producer Jonathan Pope (Ben Miller). In Echo Beach we see the finished product, starring Jason Donovan and Martine McCutcheon.

The deeply cynical and very funny Moving Wallpaper is the most enjoyable. Pope rewrites the show with the sole intention of cleaning up at the National Soap Awards. Daft as it sounds, it's hard to care about the Echo Beach folk once we know they're made-up characters.

But I'll carry on watching to see if Pope makes good on his promise to blow up something funny - clinching Most Dramatic Scene and Best Comedy Performance in one stroke.

ITV's high concept soap gamble

Former EastEnders scribe Tony Jordan is about to spill the beans on what takes place behind the scenes of a soap opera in Moving Wallpaper - an ITV sitcom about the backstage egos, affairs and in-fighting on soap series Echo Beach.

Tony Jordan Interview

The former fruit and veg salesman was the creative force behind EastEnders, Life On Mars and Hustle. He tells The Guardian about his innovative project for ITV and his mission to discover fresh writers