MIPTV Spotlight: BBC Studios

BBC Studios is focusing on scripted formats at MIPTV this year, but also has a slate that includes the adventure series One Hot Summer.

Originally airing on BBC Three in the U.K., One Hot Summer sees 13 young people from different backgrounds travel across a country for one month. “One Hot Summer isn’t a popularity contest,” explains Sumi Connock, creative director of formats for BBC Studios. “It is about real people meeting for the first time and different worldviews colliding in one extraordinary experience. Will they bond or break?” She calls it “a unique experiment that puts the ‘real’ back into reality TV.”

BBC Studios recently picked up the scripted format rights for the BBC One legal drama The Split, about a family of female divorce lawyers, “With the growing trend for brilliantly scripted, powerful dramas and comedies, a key focus will be on scripted formats,” says Connock. The company is also offering the wedding format My Big Day: Home or Away, in which each episode features one couple who is not sure how they should celebrate their nuptials.