Update: New Info about David Tennant's Elusive 1996 Short Film, 'Quality Control'!
I've got a few new updates to add to a post I did a while back about a short film David Tennant did in 1996 called Quality Control. If you haven't yet read my first post about this short film, you can read it below:
Firstly, Quality Control was broadcast many more times than I thought it was! I thought it was only broadcast four times between 1996 and 1998, so imagine my surprise when I did some digging and found it had actually broadcast eleven times between 1996 and 1999. Oops!
But by far the biggest update I have on this short is that recently I've discovered why it was made...and by whom!
But first, the updated broadcast list:
BROADCAST DATES:
1996:
4 Jan 1996 - 1:55pm - Channel Four
10 Jun 1996 - 1:55pm - Channel Four
9 Dec 1996 - 2pm - Channel Four
10 Dec 1996 - 1:30pm - Regional S4C
1997:
18 Jun 1997 - 10:45am - Regional S4C
25 Jun 1997 - 10:45am - Channel Four & Regional S4C
1998:
8 Feb 1998 - 3:30pm - Channel Four
26 Oct 1998 - 1:30pm - Channel Four
6 Nov 1998 - 1:30pm - Regional S4C
1999:
18 Jun 1999 - 1:30pm - Channel Four
29 Jun 1999 - 1:30p - Regional S4C
Of course now that I've found these, I'm aware there may be other broadcast dates I have yet missed. If so, I didn't find any past 2000. But I reserve the right to be mistaken, ha!
Now here's the bigger update: the why, and the who!
Published 23 June 1995 in The Scotsman, here's the article that broke it wide open for me, and its relevant quote:
"Simplicity and technical finesse marked this year's graduation films at the Edinburgh College of Art degree show. While Hannah Lewis's Quality Control makes excellent use of a superior comic performance by David Tennant as a youth trainee on his first day in a Leith sweatshop…"
WOW, right?
But this new information leads to all sorts of other questions. If this short was initially part of a degree course, how did it make the leap to broadcast? Was it in one of the short film UK production schemes happening at the time which were helping new film creatives launch their ideas: i.e., First Reels, Tartan Shorts, New Found Land?
I'm not sure. At first blush, Quality Control doesn't seem to have been included in a larger broadcast of shorts like Bite and Spaces had been (Bite was shown on the program Don't Look Down on STV, and Spaces was shown on STV as a part of First Reels.) In its broadcast listings, Quality Control is always listed on its own.
The description the article gives on the short is also very interesting. The article says David played a youth trainee on his first day in a Leith sweatshop. But reviews and blurbs of the short's plot in newspapers say he was a job trainee who becomes a quality controller/inspector at a skateboard factory. It seems to me that a sweatshop and a skateboard factory are two very different places, but are they? Was that changed somehow between its showing at the College of Art degree show, or was it just the article writer's bad description?
And just who is Hannah Lewis, its creator? Well my money's on producer Hannah Lewis, who's worked with Morag McKinnon and Colin McLaren. They all met at the Edinburgh College of Art, and had made three shorts together by 1999 (one of which, 'Home', won a BAFTA!) But if she is the right Hannah Lewis, Quality Control isn't listed anywhere on her IMDb. So while I can't be sure she's the short's creator, the time is right, and the place is right. A lot of the dots sure do line up!
Now we know why it was done and who did it…can we find it? Is it archived somewhere? If it is, I haven't found it so far - at least it's not archived at the Moving Image Archive in Glasgow, or at the British Film Institute. But I've yet to check to see if the Edinburgh College of Art may have it.
As far as all the other questions this raises - like how did David get involved with the project (since he was living in London at the time) and if he knew someone who knew someone who...ya know? Pfffft. Your guess is as good as mine! It's one more "I dunno" to add to the pile.
In conclusion, we may be as close as we've ever been to finding out more about David's elusive 1996 short, Quality Control.
I'll keep on searching!