{"id":22366,"date":"2025-03-21T10:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T14:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T10:51:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T14:51:19","slug":"channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Channel 4 has commissioned its first digital original drama, Beth<\/em>, to release on its YouTube channel and across its streaming and linear platforms.<\/p>\n

The sci-fi series stars Nicholas Pinnock (This Town<\/em>, The Book of Clarence<\/em>, For Life<\/em>) and Abbey Lee (Horizon: An American Saga<\/em>, Mad Max: Fury Road<\/em>) as married couple Joe and Molly, who have it all\u2014they\u2019re deeply in love and successful in their careers. When Molly finally falls pregnant after years of false hope, it feels like a miracle, until months later when their daughter is born and she is as Caucasian as can be, with no resemblance to her father.<\/p>\n

As Joe and Molly\u2019s life is thrown into turmoil, Joe begins to unravel a shocking truth that rocks him, Molly and the world to the core.<\/p>\n

Beth<\/em> is written and directed by Uzo Oleh (Edicius<\/em>), executive produced by Anna Higgs and produced by Dark Pictures and GroupM Motion Entertainment. It will be available as a 3×15-minute drama on YouTube and Channel 4 Streaming and will have a 1×45-minute linear broadcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing Beth<\/em> to life has been an extraordinary journey, made possible by the support of my producers and commissioners, who championed the vision at every turn,\u201d Oleh said. \u201cCollaborating with Nicholas and Abbey has been an honor; the depth and nuance they bring to their performances elevates the story beyond what I could have imagined. Every department, from design to cinematography, is filled with world-class artists who poured their hearts into crafting something both intimate and universal, all while pretending not to notice when I cried during takes. I\u2019m incredibly proud of what we\u2019ve created together. Beth<\/em> is a testament to what\u2019s possible when passionate, talented individuals unite to reimagine one of the oldest stories ever told.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeth<\/em> was such an intriguing concept [that] it was impossible to turn down,\u201d Pinnock said. \u201cTaking on the role of Joe has been a chance to explore the often-unspoken challenges of parenthood and identity, and I\u2019m immensely proud to be a part of this fascinating project. It has been an honor to work with the incredibly talent Uzo Oleh and the team at Dark Pictures to bring his gripping story to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee commented, \u201cUzo Oleh\u2019s stunning portrayal of love, miracles and heartache had me hooked instantly. He has written the character of Molly with such grace and humor, and I knew instantly that I wanted to work with him. His ability to take highly conceptual ideas and base them in the truth of what it is to be human is what astounds me the most. Being on set has been fun, relaxed, inspiring and collaborative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the first moment I read Beth<\/em>, I had goosebumps at the prospect of commissioning this incredible story built on two amazing characters in Joe and Molly,\u201d noted Thomas Pullen, digital commissioning executive for Channel 4. \u201cThis project is truly groundbreaking for us\u2014showing that short, episodic drama can attract incredible talent both in front of and behind the camera. It\u2019s been a privilege to work with Uzo Oleh and Dark Pictures to bring this shocking love story to life, which asks difficult questions at the same time as reflecting society right back to us\u2014everything a great science-fiction story should do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure to produce Uzo Oleh\u2019s television debut, Beth<\/em>, and partner with Anna Higgs, Channel 4 and GroupM Motion Entertainment to bring his incredible, multilayered vision to life,\u201d said Yaw Basoah, Dark Pictures\u2019 executive producer. \u201cWe\u2019re immensely proud to have collaborated with our fantastic cast, expertly led by Nicholas and Abbey, and a host of creative talent that have strengthened Beth at every stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Executive producer Higgs commented, \u201cTo work with Uzo, Yaw, Thomas and the whole team on Channel 4\u2019s first original digital drama feels like a full circle moment for me. Having worked at Film4 some 15 years ago with an innovation remit, I\u2019m glad to see Channel 4 continuing to blaze a trail and support bold emerging storytellers to make work in new ways, and I\u2019m so proud to be a part of making this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deep Sehgal, head of creative diversity and executive producer for GroupM Motion Entertainment, added, \u201cBeth<\/em> is an intriguing and hugely compelling proposition\u2013a tiny but perfectly formed thriller with a superb cast, made by a visionary writer and director. It\u2019s an absolute pleasure to be able to bring this unique project to the screen through the Diverse Indies Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Channel 4 has commissioned its first digital original drama, Beth, to release on its YouTube channel and across its streaming and linear platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":22367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[10389,10390,10391,233,10392,10133,10131,10393,10394,10395],"class_list":["post-22366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-abbey-lee","tag-anna-higgs","tag-beth","tag-channel-4","tag-dark-pictures","tag-deep-sehgal","tag-groupm-motion-entertainment","tag-nicholas-pinnock","tag-uzo-oleh","tag-yaw-basoah","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nChannel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Channel 4 has commissioned its first digital original drama, Beth, to release on its YouTube channel and across its streaming and linear platforms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-21T14:51:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-21T14:51:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/03\/Channel4-Beth-0325.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/\",\"name\":\"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-21T14:51:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-21T14:51:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\",\"name\":\"Jamie Stalcup\",\"description\":\"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. She can be reached at jstalcup@worldscreen.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/author\/jamiestalcup\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama - TVDRAMA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama - TVDRAMA","og_description":"Channel 4 has commissioned its first digital original drama, Beth, to release on its YouTube channel and across its streaming and linear platforms.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/","og_site_name":"TVDRAMA","article_published_time":"2025-03-21T14:51:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-21T14:51:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":394,"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/03\/Channel4-Beth-0325.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jamie Stalcup","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jamie Stalcup","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/","name":"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama - TVDRAMA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-03-21T14:51:11+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-21T14:51:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/channel-4-commissions-first-digital-drama\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Channel 4 Commissions First Digital Drama"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/","name":"TVDRAMA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb","name":"Jamie Stalcup","description":"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. She can be reached at jstalcup@worldscreen.com.","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/author\/jamiestalcup\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}