BBC Three Unveils Online Lineup, Partners with Idris Elba’s Green Door

LONDON: Ahead of BBC Three’s official switch from a linear broadcast channel to an online destination, the service has unveiled a roster of programming that includes the brand-new contemporary drama Clique from writer Jess Brittain.

Clique will center on two friends whose lives become increasingly complicated after starting university in Edinburgh. Additionally, a collaboration has been signed between BBC Drama and Idris Elba’s production company, Green Door Pictures, to deliver a series of short films from new writers featuring emerging on-screen talent working alongside established talent.

Meanwhile, BBC Three’s Love Triangle is a standalone serial of 8×8-minute films from Life And Death Row. The films will follow a standalone story and be published at regular intervals alongside supporting documents, including witness statements, secret police recordings and crime scene photographs. There’s a new short-form series, Life Hacks with Ben Hart, where the eponymous host brings his magic to unsuspecting members of the public.

In the new format Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared, Alys Harte and Bronagh Munro investigate the real-life disappearance of a teenager 20 years ago. The story will be told using a variety of formats, including video. Black Power marks Dan Murdoch’s follow-up to KKK: The Fight For White Supremacy. This new documentary will see Murdoch revisit the U.S. and meet the Ku Klux Klan and Black Panther movements. There are also new Stacey Dooley documentaries on attitudes about sex and prostitution in Turkey, Brazil and Russia, and a new short film about the New Year’s Eve attacks in Cologne.

The switchover night, February 16, will see episode one of the new season of Cuckoo, the first film from the new series of BAFTA-winning Life And Death Row, and Live From The BBC, featuring some of Britain’s best new comedians, made available exclusively through BBC Three’s new online platform and BBC Three on iPlayer.

Damian Kavanagh, the controller of BBC Three, said: “BBC Three is a badge of quality and shorthand for content that will stimulate emotions and provoke reactions. It’s the same award-winning programs freed from the constraints of linear TV, and because we’re freed from the schedule we can use whatever format and platform is most appropriate. The majority of what we will make is TV, like People Just Do Nothing, but we’ll make short-form video, blogs and picture-led stories as well. We’ll be on YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook and our new site The Daily Drop.

“The shackles are off when it comes to creativity. In February, our new drama Thirteen will include companion story Find The Girl that interweaves a character that exists wholly online. Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared and Emelia’s Story are exciting because we can now use different formats as well as TV to tell the story. Life Hacks shows how we can innovate with entertainment for new platforms. We’re blazing a trail with content made exclusively for young people.

“Also in February, we have Murdered By My Father… an incredibly powerful film about an honor killing. Professor Green’s documentary on suicide kicked off the debate about mental health in men. The British Army want to use Is This Rape? in a training program. That’s what we should be doing at BBC Three, starting debate and provoking reactions. I want Murdered By My Father to do what Murdered By My Boyfriend did. It’s also a good example of the creative freedom we have. Murdered By My Boyfriend had to deliver at 60 minutes. In the edit this was running at 75. That’s fine now; we’re not constrained by time slots. Whatever works for the story.

“New talent is at the core of BBC Three. We’re working with Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures on a series of London-set drama shorts featuring chance encounters between two people. A co-development with BBC Drama in-house, these will focus on developing new and up-and-coming writing talent as well as giving opportunities for new actors to work with established talent.

“When we were developing BBC Three, we kept everything focused on what our audience told us they wanted. Different types of content they could dip into during the day that kept them informed and entertained, and comedy and documentaries they could binge watch at their convenience. That’s basically the idea behind The Daily Drop and The Best Of. Snackable daily updates for when you’re on the bus and longer programs and other content for when you’re in front of the TV. For those big moments when you want a collective viewing experience we’re using the BBC’s live platform so we can create moments like director Q&As, and encourage audience interaction.”