Fife film fan urges television and film producers to release titles with audio-description

By Darren Gibb

Published 9th Jul 2021, 14:59 GMT

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A film fan from Anstruther in Fife with vision impairment has embarked on a campaign to urge television and film producers to release all of their titles with audio-description (AD).

Billy Horsburgh has the sight loss condition glaucoma, but still eagerly follows serials and films streamed on television where additional voice-over narration explains what is happening to the viewer.

Billy (39) is working with sight loss charity RNIB to urge producers and distributors to audio-describe all their films, not just a token few.

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/people/fife-anti-poverty-campaigners-urge-rethink-on-universal-credit-cuts-3301407

BBC drama Line of Duty is just one of the shows Billy would like to see with audio-description.

BBC drama Line of Duty is just one of the shows Billy would like to see with audio-description.

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https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/people/fifer-takes-on-ben-nevis-challenge-in-mental-health-fundraiser-3301783

He said: "I feel it's important for people like myself who enjoy audio-described programmes to have a wider access to such content.

"Despite the number of programmes that now have audio-description when broadcast on television, none of these have an AD-track when released on DVD and Blu-ray.

"I feel that every TV series box-set - such as 'Killing Eve', 'Line of Duty', 'White House Farm', 'Skins' - should be re-released with an AD track.

"I'm working with RNIB to contact all the major broadcasters to hopefully encourage them to re-release all their major box-set series with audio-description."

Sonali Rai, broadcast and audio-description manager with RNIB, said: "We fully support Billy's campaign for more content to be audio-described on home entertainment platforms.

"UK film distributors have a great track-record of releasing their new titles with audio-description on DVD and Blu-rays, but it’s when the box-sets are released that audio-description is often forgotten or left out.

“We also want audio-description to be listed under the DVD and Blu-ray specifications on a retailer's website as this would make it easy for blind and partially sighted film fans to confirm which ones have audio-description."

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