♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".

♪ >> hello, you are watching the context on bbc news. >> they are going to try and beat us into the ground. there is a lot of money to be made in streaming. they know that. >> who is going to determine what our value is? we are determining what our value is. you know what else determines it to? the audience. >> if we do not take control of this situation, we are all going to be in threat of losing our livelihoods. ♪ >> hello and welcome to the program. tens of thousands of hollywood actors havjoined screenwriters

in the first double strike in more than 60 years. also on the program tonight, and inquiry into in hs dentistry services in england has found people are being forced to pull out their own teeth due to long's -- month wait times. we will analyze india's growing influence on the global stage. first, we go to the tens of thousands of hollywood actors who are on strike. it is the industry's biggest shut down for more than 60 years. it the vast majority of american and television productions, including the avatar and gladiator sequels. the screen actors guild union once studios and streaming giants to give the fair share of profits and it once assurances about the use of artificial intelligence. our correspondent is on the picket lines in new york. tell us what you have been

hearing and seeing. >> we have seen a number of familiar faces on the picket line, including a list stars like susan sarandon and olivia s guild, other unions have joined to show their solidarity. every time cars passed by, we occasionally hear honks in support. some real momentum on this first day of picketing. this as the streaming giants offices in new york, there are three other locations throughout the city. look, actors say they did not want to strike. the ones we have spoken to say they feel they had to because of this inflection point in the industry, with so much a people and change. now that they are relying on streaming instead of network television and dvds, they say there is just not enough transparency in the success rate

of certain shows, the duration of royalties they want a better piece of the pie, essentially to share the profits as you mentioned earlier. of course, ai, even a list celebrity like susan sarandon saying she is concerned about the future of, perhaps, artificial intelligence generating not just voices, but images and replacing real people on screen or there like this. -- or their likeness being replicated. a lot happening. i think what we are seeing in this industry can transfer across other industries across the united states. many will be looking to see how this is resolved. >> that is the question, isn't it? are there signs this could go on for a long time? the twsides seem far apart. >> yeah, that is right. we have heard a lot from the president of the new york sag, how he felt in the negotiating

room there was a lot of disrespect. certainly, there has been a lot of heated rhetoric, even fran drescher the president of sag saying it was disgusting seeing how the studios have been responding, talking a lot about corporate read. a lot of heated comments have been thrown out there. look, this is the first industrywide shut down for 60 years. the actors did go on strike in the 1980's. that took several months. we are hearing talk this could last until october. thin like the emmy awards that take place in september, there is talks of having to delay that. nobody here is happy about what is happening. this is going to affect an industry that employs so many, from costume design, set design -- not just writers and actors. many cities, including los angeles and new yk, racing for the impact. >> thank you for that update

from the picket lines in new york. i am joid by sean schommer, the actor from the chosen. also, a board member of the screen actors guild. thank you for making time to talk to us. we are seeing passionate scenes on the streets of new york and similar scenes elsewhere in los angeles. tell us what this is fundamentally about, for actors like yourself, writers -- what do they want to see happen? >> thank you. this is fundamentally about the fact the business model has complete and change. our contract is based on a different way for the public to consume film and television. now, for it to be moved online and to use the streami platforms to distribute our work, the residuals, formulas, the way we are paid -- none of it is sustainable since we had to discount our services, essentially, in previous negotiations just to get to restriction to be covered and

paid for the way they exhibit or work on these platforms. now, with them racing to compete with each other of who can create the most content and to now be dumping that content because they do not want to pay the residuals on those programs and deplatforming them off their platforms, it feels they are turning our work into a fast fashion of entertainment. it is abusing our membership. we are not meaningfully participating in the economic value we bring to these companies. they are paying their ceos hundreds of millions of dollars. it is just not fair. the attitude we have encountered in the negotiating room made it clear want to impoverish us, the writers guild, so that will be so desperate they will take any deal to maximize their profits. >> help us understand the impact of streaming. one would imagine with much more content than ever, there should be more work for actors and writers. why, then, are actors and writers not getting an increased

amount of pay from the increased amount of content? >> you would be shocked to know how much we are paid for these streaming shows. the pay scales we get for broadcast television and cable are much greater then the streaming platforms pay. we are not getting the same paycheck for the same amount of simply because people are consuming it online versus nontraditional television. also, the way we get residuals is different because on broadcast tv, we would get paid every time our show reruns or put into syndication. online, we are not given viewership data. we do not know how successful our work is. they are not paying us residuals over many years that would compensate us fairly i deplatforming our work, basically taking our artwork and disappearing it so nobody can see it. it is like taking our creative legacy of our generation and throwing it down the memory hole . our residuals formulas, are not

keeping up. our pay scales are not keeping up, even if there are more technical shows in operation. there in mind, we still have 28 episodes a season. now, it is typical for a show to have eight or 10 episodes for an entire season. also, these shows do not go on for multiple seasons, they are canceled after one or too seasons and you do not get a chance to earn enough money to hold you over through the lean times. every actor knows you have your times where you are making money, where you are on a job. but, you also depend on the earnings and residuals to get you through the low points. we do not have that anymore. >> for clarity, residuals are like royalties for actors that you would get from work you have already done. but, looking at the studios, the studios say the reason they make these economic decisions is because of the difficult, economic climate of -- climate. obviously, that is not necessarily an argument going

down well, considering the average pay for a top hollywood executive was $28 million in 2021. are you concerned about the length of time this strike could go on? there has been a suggestion some members of the -- on the studio side, hoping this goes on long enough it starts to bite into people's bills and paychecks and they have no choice but to go back to work. >> that has been kind. we have reports of multiple studio executives saying that they want us to be impoverished, to lose our apartments and homes and that is a "cruel but necessary evil." that is the sociopathy we see in some of corporate america, where the demand for short tm profits for executive compensation bonuses, for example, bob iger of disney has a contractual clause he gets a 500% bonus of his base salary based on the stock performance. anything they can do to boost

short-term profits for their own benefit is what they are doing. it is exploiting us. our actual earnings adjusted for inflation have gone down, yet, they have raised the prices on these platforms by 20% to 40%. we are not sharing in additional revenue on a subscription-bad model. they went on a reckless spending spree when wall street was demanding growth, so theyorderit f moeney ong w tons o celebrity development deals. now that wall street is demanding profitability, they are claiming poverty. it is not genuine. it is a bait and switch. we are not dealing with filmmakers and artists anymore. we are dealing with wall street. it is the shareholders and ceos we have to hold accountable for the ethical failings of this process. >> thank you for sharing your perspective with us today. he is an actor on the chosen and a member of the screen actors guild. we will bring you more on those

strikes in hollywood. the writers and actors are getting widespread support from across the industry, including those who are itching to make her films. you may know the film director, christopher nolan, he writes the screenplays for many of his movies and he has told the bbc he will not write another film untilhe actors and writers strike is resolved. the director was speaking ahead of the premier of his latest film, oppenheimer, which is about the american scientist who is described as the father of the atomic bomb. kt razzle went to meet him. ♪ >> the atomic bomb in the new mexico desert. >> the tesla 1995 was codenamed trendy, and atomic bomb crated by scientists working for the u.s. government. used controversially to end world war ii. ♪ >> >> remember this day. now, one of the world's most were noun film directors, christopher nolan, is telling the story of j robert oppenheimer, the theoretical

physicist behind the bomb. >> they say there is a chance when we push that button, we destroy the world. >> chances are near zero. >> i became really interested in exploring that, taking the audience through that moment where they made that incredible decision. >> zero would be nice. >> how can you take that on yourself? you know there is a possibility when you push that button, you may destroy the entire world. yet, they pushed it. >> making the bomb was a triumph of human ingenuity and science, but heralded the potential end of civilization. here is oppenheimequoting from hindu scripture in 1965. >> now, i have become death, the destroyer of worlds. i suppose we all thought that, one way or another. >> he never apologized. he never expressed individual shame.

all of his actions, to me, are the actions of someone wracked by guild. >> the film stars appeared at the premiere in london last night. as the news came actors would be joining writers on picket lines, they left before the film started. you will not be writing another film while the strike is on? >> no, this is not about me. this is about jobbing actors, staff writers on television programs trying to raise a family, trying to keep food on the table. these companies have not yet accommodated how they are going to enter this new world of streaming and pay appropriately. >> are we dreaming? >> any delay from nolan is a loss to cinema. from the director behind blockbusters like inception a epics including the second world war drama dunkirk, oppenheimer is his latest movie to take on

big things. with the film focused on the nuclear arms race, what does he think about the other existential threat to mankind, ai? >> when you talk to leaders of the field of a they say the -- see this moment as their oppenheimer moment. they are looking to history to say, what are our responsibilities? how can we deal with potential, unintended consequences? >> we might start a chain reaction that destroys the world . >> there are ethical lessons for the future in this film, about a scientific genius whose actions, it revocably change. ♪ >> around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's take a look at some of the stories that are making headlines today. covid public inquiry can finally

gain access to boris johnson's whatsapp messages from the first year of the pandemic following a delay. technicians were reluctant to turn on the old phone because the former prime minister could not remember his password. getting it wrong multiple times could have led to the data being wiped. the government has found a record of his code paves the way for it toe accessed. embassies have warned london could see tens of thousands of measles cases due to low levels of vaccination. calculated from the u.k. health security agency suggest an outbreak could affect between 40000 and 160,000 people. higher levels of immunization and the rest of the u.k. means there is a low risk of a large epidemic elsewhere. nearly 1000 workers are set to take eight days of strike action at gatwick airport over the summer holidays around pay. the workers at four firms will strike in jade -- in dates in july and august.

you are live with bbc news, this is the context. next, a report from mps in the u.k. that could only be described as scathing. it says, some people are being forced to pull out their own teeth at home because they cannot access to an nhs dentist in england. the comments and social health care committee says the pain of people who cannot see a dentist is unacceptable in the 21st century. many dentists are refusing to accept new adult patients, so some people are having to travel hundreds of miles to get dental treatment. let's talk to eddie crouch, chair of the british dental association who joins us now. thanks for making time to talk to us. a bbc investigation found nine in 10 in hs until practices across the u.k. were not accepting new adult patients. how did it get to this point? >> i think my colleagues have lost faith in any significant reform of the contract, they have been despised since 2006.

i gave evidence to a house select committee 15 years ago that came to the conclusion that the contract is not an object for purpose. what will not be welcome is if the suggestions made in this court are not acted upon urgently as recommended in the reports. what ec is complacency from ministers to nhs england and, sadly, from that time when that survey was carried out, i think the situation has gotten worse. more of my colleagues in the nhs >> on the weekly basis. the impact on patients is serious. we are seeing reports of people trying to fix their dental issues themselves. one woman pulled out 13 of her teeth by herself. have you been coming across cases like this, and what are the dangers of this dia -- diy dentistry? >> sadly, she is not an isolated

case. i have met plenty of people, interviews today of people phoning in saying they have done similar things. th is shocking to me and shocking to my colleagues. the complications are many fold. the damage that can be done i someone putting a pair of pliers in their mouth in their kitchen and taking a tooth out are unbelievable. they can break the tooth, they can damage the gum, they can create serious infection. it is not what we should be expecting from our national health service. he would not expect any other area of the house service to have a lack of emergency ce that made people have to do their own work. it is shocking. >> you yourself have been a nhs dentist for 39 years. how do you encourage more dentists to perform nhs work? is reforming the dental contract the answer, or does it need to go beyond that?

>> it is partly the answer, but it is a question -- you are right. i have been nearly 40 years, maybe all of them i have worked on the national house service. there were you people behind me and my career, many of my young colleagues do not see a future in the nhs. that is really sad. what we need is an honest conversation, i hope this leads to an honest conversation. my time as a chair, i have had five ministers responsible for dentistry. that in itself is not conducive to the significant reform. what we need is urgency. if we get urgency, and if we do not get any more -- all is ministers should say, there is no more money to spend on dentistry. then, we have to have an honest conversation about what the government and what the ministers, what the nhs one to buy for my colleagues to provide

that either basic service for a small number of the population, or an emergency, urgent care service only. we have only ever commissioned enough dentistry for half the population. some of those things are coming home to roost right now. >> eddie crouch, gid to get your insight -- good to get your insight. thank you for your time today. >> thank you. >> experts at the world health organization of classified the artificial sweetener as part of as a possible cause of cancer. as part of his widely used in diet drink sand low calorie foods. it is 200 times sweeter than sugar, but the world health organization says the current daily limits on its consumption do not need to be changed. let's try and make sense of this. i am joined by assistant professor for microbiology and immunology at don's hopkins

bloomberg school of public health. help us understand what we are hearing. on one hand, we are being told sparta me possibly -- aspartame possibly causes cancer, but is it safe to consume? >> that is correct. two bodies have performed this simulation. they are saying there is limited evidence asaparatme might cause cancer, then there is additional body of the world that suggest -- evaluating how much asparatme we need to consume to reach that potential impact on carcinogens. they are saying, there is evidence but the evidence do not say the dose should be lowered. it might be a carcinogen, but

not -- consuming. >> how common are asparatme in the foods we are consuming every day? how much asparatme am i getting a day? >> we estimate about 90% of the diet drinks, sodas and -- if we are thinking of that as the source, an adult weighing about 70 kograms would need to dri 14t da a day to reach that. maybe not entirely impossible, but not plausible. what has been going under the radar is, for children, especially young children, a mere number of two to four cans a day, that is where we should be more cautious. >> that is a important point, how different it is for children. aside the possibility of carcinogens, are there other risks associated with consuming

asparatme? >> that is a good question. we are using other artificial sweeteners as a means of preventing weight gain. the world health organization earlier this year published a recommendation saying that strategy might not be the best strategy, replacing sugars because -- they may not be the best way of preventing weight gain more -- or diabetes. we may consider artificial sweeteners may have the potential. we are also seeing in our studies, to promote metabolic arrangements -- the jury is out for how common this really is. >> scientists have been asking fodecades whether artificial sweeteners are good or bad for us. if we boil it down to a simple question, what is better for me to drink?

a diet coke or as i call it, a full fat coke? >> [laughter] the responsible answer would be, probably drink water. >> i knew you would say that. [laughter] but, if you had to tell me, what would be better for me? >> we know that sugar, white sugar and of health concerns, including carcinogens, at least as it calls for certain types of cancer. cally, the solution is not pito stywitc back from diet sodo your regular sugar sweetened soda. that would definitely not the a good strategy. i think what we agree upon both as scientists and people in nutrition is we should try to find a way to reduce sweetness across the board. there are certain -- not to name products -- that are sparking doubt, adding sugars without any

sweetness at all. they might be unfeasible alternative to people whoave the drinks that feel like soda. >> thank you, i know i put you on the spot. thanks for answering that. briefly -- if i have still got you, i wanted to ask, is there anything mel's -- anything else about aspartame that should be studied? >> obviously, what we have seen is that the impacts of artificial sweeteners maybe personalized, so some people would be negatively impacted by them and others would not. that would highlight either studies published today, we think part of the reason for that is the micro biome got bacteria are naturally occurring bacteria in responses for other sweeteners. >> we will leave it there. thank you very much.

you ar narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymd james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: a now, "bbc news".