BBC Studios & China’s Bilibili Team for Ancients

BBC Studios and Bilibili are working on Ancients, their first international co-production to feature Chinese stories, following an enhanced partnership agreement signed in October.

The new six-part series will bring together the history of early Eastern and Western civilizations, using documentary visuals and CGI to tell a story that stretches back 5,000 years. Presented by historical specialists, each episode will use the very latest scientific and archaeological discoveries to reveal the tools, technologies, strategies and systems that decided the fate of Ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Indians, Greeks and Romans.

The co-production of this new series follows BBC Studios and Bilibilis’ multi-year strategic cooperation agreement in October. This deal aims to enhance the Chinese platform’s premium content offering from BBC Studios and take their existing partnership to a new level. Bilibili has commissioned BBC Studios’ Science Unit to produce Odyssey into the Future, a series featuring the globally successful Chinese science fiction author Liu Cixin.

Tom McDonald, director of factual at BBC Studios Production, said, “This new series reflects the deeper level of partnership between BBC Studios and Bilibili, as we collaborate to produce world-leading documentaries which resonate with audiences in China and across the world. This will be a history series underpinned by cutting edge technology and contemporary storytelling.”

“The development of Chinese stories is a key element in BBC Studios and Bilibili’s strengthened partnership,” said Li Ni, vice chairwoman and COO of Bilibili. “Through the co-production of Ancients, we hope to jointly bring to the global stage some of China’s rich cultural and historical stories together along with other civilizations. This partnership is also in line with our commitment to providing premium quality content that caters to the tastes and demands of our growing base of users, mostly young Chinese audience who have been raised in China’s post-reform era with elevated living standards, educational levels and increasing demand for sophisticated cultural products.”