Read this: Why we're all watching Britain's nerdiest channel

BBC sounds music Radio podcasts hello, I'm Andrea catherwood, and this is the media show from BBC Radio 4 it might be Britain's channel, but suddenly it's compulsive viewing 2.6 million people watch BBC Parliament last week record ratings for a channel usually only watched by a few thousand die-hard politics Junkies meanwhile, MPs have taken 2 filming the drama unfolding in the House of Commons with their own phones and the clips have been going viral on social media so is parliament daily the new Game of Thrones won't let me introduce you to two people who share anything the answer is a definite.

Yes if the controller of BBC Parliament channel and Ellie Ashton is senior correspondent.

Time we've got the Scottish Parliament life.

We got the party conferences about to kick off and they should be amazing this year and we're also doing things with the schedule which is we've got the reflex which about this issue of the law and politics and we're running back from this evening because that's the subject of the day.

Is it a requirement of being a senior political correspondent that you have to sit at all times and the press gallery or are you ever allowed to watch proceedings via Peters TV channel is just brilliant with it going to snow later special Monday night.

You have that Coronation ceremony.

I think close to 2 am so I think that would be better to watch from the sofa.

Tell us a little bit of what it's like in the military press gallery because on television.

We don't actually get to see it.

What's it like watching that drama live at the moment.

That's right.

I mean the parliamentary press gallery is different to public press gallery and that there is no screen that for me.

So you can hear everything and just sit there until receipt all the different MPs and where they were they said what they're doing.

I think it's really essential to be there in to see the action going on.

Did you speak into the speaker and just recently I mean the drama has been incredible absolutely will also here is David Behan hee is creative director at the TV production company proper.

What David we're going to be talking to you a little bit later in the show about an extraordinary documentary that you had last night on Channel 5 before that I wanted to ask your apple TV's new TV service Netflix budget is 6 billion to make shows to make content of so far revealed that is going to cost consumers just about $5 a month you a production company is known for its factual programmes.

So have you been pitching ideas?

Haven't been to Apple yet.

No well with that 6 billion dollars out there and see I think what happens often when he's big players coming to the market the first thing they were really big glossy Productions the dramas big entertainment shows producers.

We still hang on a bit hanging pot back see how much money is left and then we scrap over the apps, so I'm not yet know and I'm always a little bit dubious and new players coming because ultimately there's only so much content anyone can watch the most people pay the licence fee for making that you want support you probably sky or BT as well, so it's best to hang on a bit because ultimately you want people to watch your content.

So you want to be able to picture and take its place where you can get styes in front of a very crowded market at the price.

They are the subscription fee of just $5 a month to prepare themselves for the fact that the long-term visa.

Low prices offered by streaming services might not last how can it be sustainable content what I do is really really expensive someone I have $5 I think oh my goodness.

What's that going to the moon to my budget on Freeview channel to 32 in the early hours of yesterday morning in the latest episode of brexit crisis a woman dressed all in black has turned up at the house has arrived at the commons house the principal doorkeeper and answers black robes arrival and in she comes with persimmons to the House of Lords after that tempers conventions unravel and the speakers struggles to maintain control of you.

Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you very much.

Well, if you had any doubt that this was an unused prorogation b157 Speaker of the House of Commons has certainly set the tone for the occasion mark have you seen anything like this? I know there was some kind of altercation going on around the speakers chair at one point at the beginning of this.

They were holding up signs and silenced and now there a chance of shame on you for having some late night.

I am the team are pigs sorted excited.

I mean it's they all do it because they booked TV and radio programmes today in Parliament yesterday, because they love it because that fascinated by and there's never been a time like it, so but it yeah, it's been tiring.

I'm sure the whole team that at BBC Parliament

Also very excited news programs and use channels do dip into the feed from Westminster when a big story is unfolding and then they have commentators and reporter is of course that the Parliament channel style is very different, isn't it? Yeah, it's continuous.

It's largely and mediated, but they said that they we got constant mediation on screen through speaking what they're talking about what the processes and as you're holding those clips.

We are when it comes to those special moments and when those gaps in the proceedings.

We do actually try and get people through it.

They may be already know it all and asking me if you £100 sitting on my knee at home, but most people have a jolly grateful for the guidance it almost sounded like you had a sports commentator there rather than anybody has offering an opinion and commentary we wouldn't do that absolutely squeaky.

As far as I'm concerned we have to be impartial through and through the House of Commons has it got its own production team that provides you with that feed tell me a little bit about the rules there because the channel the way the channel broadcasts is quite different there a cuddle things you can and can't show where they used to be a lot of things that we couldn't show but that's basically that list has reduced over the years.

So I've only the rules haven't really changed the understanding of them has so probably at the start of parliamentary broadcasting what you got a close-up of somebody speaking and you couldn't see what's going on around them.

You could get anything that you might think of Us reaction shots about listening shots of comment and it's much more like the normal feel about being able to see he's listening when another MPs speaking absolute.

The value of asking Emily about the sensor being that couple years ago was that we got ilevel cameras in next to the speakers chair and that really has transformed things cos you do when you see the tellers approaching you or you see the prime minister on his feet opposite the leader of the opposition.

It's much much closer to a feeling of being know the result of this trend of MPs filming proceedings inside Parliament with their phones and I'd like to play for you an example from in the early hours of yesterday.

It's a video That's filmed by an SNP MP of some of the Welsh colleagues you can always rely on the Welsh for four part harmony, but you didn't show that on BBC

Why not? Well, it wasn't part of the feed and once the session has finished the feed stops goes to recover exciting colour picture of a clock.

That's what we get the end and so I'm quite interesting and difficult question which is why do MPs because in the end, it's only decide how these rules about won't get something what doesn't and then they go from Brecon so what would you like to see change the media change we really hope we could see it at the moment if you bring in a guest and it might be the prime minister of another country who's in the visitor gallery.

They talk about like to welcome them smiling clap and wave them and you can't see it because it's not filmed.

No, that's a real frustration, but the bigger question is actually where the week.

Sun glints of the voting lobbies only get those when MP3 the pictures out if you had as we had recently climate change protesters in the gallery.

Don't see those either and that's common practice to have to say across all parliaments which is not to give much attention to the Scottish Parliament will they might get to give you one shot briefly, so there's a balance to be stressed that their striking between between open this and actually been seen to encourage trouble behaviour and house in here as well as senior political correspondent.

I'm just wondering about the bigger question that whether or not please on eye playing to the media.

They are able to go viral on social media with their clips and conducting themselves in a manner that they didn't use to it has changed.

This is with the rise of social media and you'll see MPs tweeting photos from the benches.

I mean all this is banned really and photos the voting lobbies.

You're not supposed to do that but you see the speaker turned a blind eye to it really on Monday night.

He didn't say anything about it and they continue to do it and for the for me and my lovely colleagues.

I mean it's great you see the server side of Parliament you don't see they're also quite good night.

I getting increasingly better and more Media savvy at making montages that yes and an MP is very an MP staff is very good at immediately free sample at MP at pmqs asked a good question for example the labour MP tan dhesi last week at the Sikh MP had a question to Boris Johnson it was applauded now closed his band in the chamber as well, but that is got bigger and bigger in recent weeks and John

Allowed more more of it, but anyway this question was applauded as he quickly put it on his Twitter feed and captioned subtitled so people can look at it mute on this was about a potential review into Islamic for islamophobia in the Conservative Party and on a reason like I think it's 18000 not just incredible and it's nothing new that MPs will create sound Bites for TV bulletin does the new thing is that the sound bytes are aimed at social media now Jeremy Corbyn will have a sound bite ready to go during pmqs that would need to be go on Twitter on his Facebook page targeted for his electorate in fondant after is only political wonks watched the Parliament channel 727.

He was watching live on Tuesday night as part of being suspended, but you are online figures are absolutely huge to the will of people watching on devices people watching on public transport again or like a formats and something happening in Parliament 700000 + is actually the last Tuesday not the suspension people watch it on the move and watching everywhere and love talking about in fact that people like the idea of something that weathers common ground between the is very flawed situation.

Where people are really upset one way and about brexit upset cos it's happening because it's not happening and the common ground is the rocker like the idea of this this quirky TV channel is showing the Stroma and it's something that they've got in common and I know that's the case between my friends of mine who take extreme opposite views of the whole of the

Love to find common ground in in in in sharing their experience of watching Emily of course.

It's not just the MPs who are using social media the prime minister is also using social media.

He has a Facebook Live going out today 5 p.m.

Quite soon actually in the past if the fundus was making an announcement that would be done on the steps of Downing Street and there would be a press conference know he is able to talk directly to to the voters to the electorate does that mean that journalists like you were being cut out of the loop in press conferences are unfortunately getting rarer and rarer from all kinds of prime ministers and but Boris Johnson has done maybe one of these before and when he speaking directly on social media and people are in get on Facebook and type your question and he will answer it.

You don't know exactly which questions is going to pay again.

It's not quite the same as I want to journalist in a room and course there are no follow-up questions and exaggeration.

Boris Johnson putting out these clips on Instagram on Twitter going into school.

He does like answering children's questions they going to make some like human and funny, but it is not the same questions you might not be able to ask questions directly to the prime minister at the moment, but there is certainly no shortage of stories around I wonder where you're getting most of your stories from is it from what's going on in Ireland or is it from the whisperings and the briefings outside? I mean it's great to be in Parliament but I mean I'm just being BuzzFeed and we don't tend to do the daily stories at the BBC the press association and even the newspapers to some extent do because that's died being done so we will try to add something new and we've got the big scoops coming out every week and then we have something on big government data and that's coming through with from leixlip.

I know I asked him this question last week on the media show but you've had a lot of scoops most they have come from leaks is this the leak?

I would say that Theresa May's government was really here as well and that's partly due to a lack of authority of top Beano her Ministers were left to their own devices the staff were and a little leaps from there as well.

Love you both.

Bye and bye bye parliamentary convention Peter and your coverage and Emily at the convention in the way that lobby journalists operate to but following decision in the Court of Session in Scotland today that Parliament suspension is unlawful and the reported dismissal of it from sources inside number 10 and who's the Observer columnist.

I do wish bloody Westminster journalist with name spokesman and women in no sense of a confidential sources.

They are official voices for politicians if this is Dominic Cummings speaking and he should have the balls to say so I have just noticed that BuzzFeed again called it a source close to the prime minister today.

Is is Nick Wright should you be naming your sources?

I think there's a couple of issues going on and I think sources.

I think anonymous sources are actually crucial to being able to pass information and hold the government to account.

I think that is always been this is very different from an anonymous.

What's this is a source close to the government we all know that this is a government advisor perhaps.

I mean I don't know if next time he will say that lobby briefing because there's a lot of contention over whether you should know the prime minister spoke and who's actually remember the Civil Service we don't buy convention name him we don't name Jeremy Corbyn spokesman.

That is a bone of contention.

I think it should be allowed to stay anonymous for leaks around Peter I must ask you how your planning ahead for the series finale of brexit.

You've got you might have a month you might not Parliament supposed to return at the moment on October 14th kirlia.

What's your plan well as you probably guessed by now most things happen to us by surprise and yes.

At the start of the day it may not be possible to know whether you're finishing at 7:10 or into the early hours that that night that requires extreme flexibility for the team and in our ability to schedule the channel we have we had a perfect example of the House of Lords last week when you were going to go through the weekend continuously in an attempt to stop the no deal Bill and then and then it came to a sudden halt in the morning, so we do have to be fleet of foot for that, but I think the the other space that we've explored is that of a public speech which is a mentioned the reflection and showing that on television at Steve Richards series on that we got running at the moment when Party split there is that there is a lot of opportunity there forever.

Already happening in some that we create ourselves to explore this absolutely fascinating territory.

Well.

It certainly seems to be a format that very successful for night.

Thanks very much to both of you big topic for TV Producers at the moment is what responsibility you have to the people who feature in your programs regular listeners will know the last month we reported on ofcom's proposals to bring in Newry specifically set out the duty of care that broadcasters should have two members of the public it follows some another instance the suicide of a participant in the ITV Jeremy Kyle show which was cancelled earlier this year was last night's Channel 5 screens and extraordinary documentary feature stories of 6 British man who attempted to take their own lives as well as showing footage in the depths of mental health crisis as an NHS unit in London each minute across the world one last online.

Is it really like to Wantage I'm still here is baffles me.

I would have worked first time.

I just wondered I literally 6 men 6 lives 20 suicide attempts between on the channel 4 documentary suicidal and David devany was the executive producer and he is the founder of the production company proper content it is incredibly sad.

I was very struck by the honesty with which those 6 men tell their stories is that what you said I like to achieve this production actually started about 3 years ago.

So if you can imagine 3 years ago.

We've been talking disgusting and plotting and working out procedures about how to make.

Any good luck? I think is a collaboration obviously with people in it and people work around it and sitting down with those man.

That's what they wanted to get across want to get across exactly what it's like in their head in that moment.

Tell me about the process because before you got to sit down with those and then you must have gone through a long process as I knew that you were working with the full cooperation of the local NHS draught was that your starting point out to them in October with a written to the three years ago and so we had you can imagine a few years of meeting and talking about what can be done does everybody want to do it white what's the reason for doing it and then how we could do it and the reason it really is to highlight this that the statistics which are quite over 2-hours and the time in the UK and every aeroplane in the world.

It's like I have never epidemic.

That's what I'm doing on those so.

Everybody wants to tell the same story but then something as sensitive as that does take a long time to really figure out how to do it and how much control did the trust have over What You filmed and Who You filmed in and who you talk to I mean, it's an incredibly difficult to imagine to go up to somebody has in throes of this crisis and say would you like to be so you know it's next door is next to refill but you have to make it the next door anyway.

So you have to be led by the experts.

So you have to be like by the petitioners in have to directly to you.

You should talk to and at what appropriate at what moment programme makers need to show to anyone they put on her and asking people to talk directly about their own suicide attempts when they're very vulnerable is very difficult it must need the highest duty of care.

Play some really rigorous process and we're only halfway through it like I started 3 years ago if I have another 3 years or more of this type of process if you even though they are transmitted last night, which will be ongoing and that fundamentally the new part of the regulation really is ongoing support the transmission also in the studio is Lorna Fraser Samaritans and smells of drawn up guidelines for how the media should depict suicide and indeed they should cover cover suicide.

I was that needed suicide is obviously a really sensitive and challenging topic for Media to cover however these statistics that David has just quoted you know this is a major public health issue.

We just seen statistics and figures rise and the statistics that will published earlier this week from the office of National Statistics so 6859.

Died in the UK in 2018 this is not something that we can afford to ignore.

This is not going away.

So what advice centre you give to Jonas and filmmakers about Hythe recovering it so with great sensitivity particularly working as David and Rachel direct to have with contributors in the way that the film was made last night and covering this in a sensitive way in a responsible way bringing into the program as Rachel and David have done some of the really important messages around like encouraging people to talk and that's encouraging people to talk if they are struggling to cope, but also encouraging people to have conversations.

You know very often people are somebody close to them whether it's a relative whether it's somebody that they work with that they may be going through a difficult time, but people can feel quite apprehensive to start that conversation.

Worrying about you know what if I say the wrong thing and I make me feel worse but actually it was really important is just have that conversation ask them if they are ok, and I knew that you advise on this program and you very happy with the level of care.

That was given to the participants because it doesn't end there does it presumably the company needs to get involved in the aftercare David mention three so do you think that that has to be done for three years after the programme is broadcast I mean it's very difficult to put a time limit on something like that because these are very personal issues the nature of mental health problems come and go and even with the contributors to this.

It's contributors of this film.

You know who we are incredibly grateful for sharing their stories.

You know that they all have different complications in their life.

They have different mental illnesses that they are suffering with so it's difficult and put the tyre limit.

Documentaries the documentary maker will always have a relationship for con time afterwards of the contributors program, but what's different if we put something more formal in for a sort of Period and then after the informal relationship continues looking at these guidelines and that's a bit of a mixed bag.

We've been Gathering data around this over the last decade now and you know it's really good to see that that is largely a positive story through the work that we do around educating programme makers and journalist around the sensitivities and the risks associated with this topic with finding that there is just so much more awareness of their sensitivities and those risks and you know that that's really showing in Hale programs are covered so there is an improvement thinking more broadly about reality TV with these.

Duty of care and high that's changing will it change hi produces treat people on screen what they can show and I'll be done thinking of many people in reality TV programmes talk shows just wouldn't be able to commit to the kind of level of counselling and aftercare that you're able to do.

I don't think it's changing actually because I think the fundamental difference is that broadcasters now in the budget for that if in the budget previously that wasn't always the case, but now they appreciate that the people have to be looked after after work particularly with the rise of social media impact that felt pads on everyone who takes part of the TV program so that extra investment is definitely helping across the board.

I think thank you very much indeed.

Well, if you've been affected by any of the issues.

We do you can find links to organisations who can offer help and support on our web page.

Thank you very much indeed to all our guests David tahini creative director a proper content on Fraser off.

Peter Knowles BBC parliaments and Emily Ashton from BuzzFeed I'll be back at the same time next week.