BBC One Orders Steve McQueen Drama, Motown Musical Series

LONDON: BBC One has unveiled a range of new commissions, including an as-yet-untitled drama from Oscar-winner Steve McQueen and a musical series using Motown tunes.

That 6×1-hour series will span three decades in the lives of members of a West Indian community in London, starting in 1968 at the moment that U.K. politician Enoch Powell delivered an anti-immigration tirade known as the River of Blood speech. Rainmaker Films Production will produce the series.

“These stories are passionate, personal and unique,” McQueen said. “They are testimony to the truth of real lives and urgently need to be told. This is about a legacy which has not only made my life as an artist possible, but also has shaped the Britain that we live in today.”

Additionally, BBC One greenlit the musical drama series Stop! In the Name of Love, a production that centers around the iconic sounds of Motown anthems. Songs from the record label will be woven into the plot, with characters singing songs at key moments. The 4×1-hour series is written by Tony Jordan and co-produced by Red Planet Pictures and Stop! (London) following a deal with EMI Music Publishing.

Executive producer Duncan Kenworthy said: “I’m hugely excited about this opportunity to integrate some of the coolest songs ever written into a big, bold, diverse drama about contemporary love lives, and delighted that the BBC has commissioned it. Some music is so famous that it’s already woven into our lives. Stop! In the Name of Love will use Motown’s unforgettable tunes and powerful lyrics to help express the emotional complications—the heart and the heartbreak—of the new world we’re living in.”

The network has also given the go-ahead to a 90-minute adaptation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies. Produced by BBC Cymru Wales Production in association with BBC Worldwide, the special is due out next year as part of BBC’s Shakespeare Season.

Davies said: “I’ve wanted to make this for the BBC for my entire adult life, and only the BBC can put on a play like this, for all the family, smack-bang in the heart of prime time. With a riot of prosthetics, CGI, magic and action, it needs the brilliant Doctor Who team in Cardiff to bring it to life.”

On the factual front, the channel has commissioned the 3×1-hour series Italy’s Invisible Cities, a follow-up to Rome’s Invisible City; the 3×1-hour Tomorrow’s Food, fronted by Dara O Briain; and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on Poaching, a special about the illegal wildlife trade.