BBC announce a slate of new documentary, entertainment and drama commissions at the Edinburgh TV Festival.
Director of BBC Content, Charlotte Moore announced a range of new commissions at the EITF from the BBC.
She said: "The new commissions I’m announcing today are examples of the range and ambition audiences can expect from the channel as we continue to challenge what mainstream television can do and connect with a diverse modern Britain."
Alan Partridge
BBC Two will broadcast a 25th anniversary special this year, marking 25 years since Alan Partridge's debut on BBC Radio back in 1992 and a BBC One series will follow in 2018.
Controller for BBC Comedy Shane Allen said: "Alan Partridge is in the top tier of comedy characters of all time, it fills my comedy heart with joy to welcome him back to BBC One and BBC Two."
More information will follow once filming begins.
Grenfell
This 90-minute documentary will be shown on BBC One, bringing together the moving and powerful stories from the Grenfell Tower tradegy.
It will explore the stories of the men, women and young children who were directly affected by the tower block fire. It will hear from the emergency services, as well as those who were in a position of responsibility before, during and after the fire.
Following the disaster, filmmakers were in the area around Grenfell Tower every day, documenting scenes as the community reacted to the situation. They will be spending significant amounts of time with the people who’ve been most affected, covering both the immediate effects and long term challenges faced by many of the survivors.
The Button
The Button is a brand-new entertainment show for BBC One from the minds behind Taskmaster creators Andy Devonshire and Alex Horne.
The mysterious button can arrive in any home around the country, and will visit five families or friends each week and place a talking button at the heart of their living room where the teams face spontaneous challenges against the clock to win a cash prize.
The teams must keep a close eye on the button which turns from green to red when it’s time to play. The Button delivers the task they must complete in the quickest time, interacts with them, and also reveals their rival teams on screen.
Kate Phillips, Controller of BBC Entertainment said: “This new show absolutely pushes all the right buttons for us. It’s a funny, frantic, competitive romp and a great snapshot of family life across the UK.”
The Stephen Lawrence Story
In a documentary series from Academy Award-winning documentary makers James Gay-Rees and Asif Kapadia, BBC One will explore one of the most famous cases of 20th century Britain; the murder of 18-year-old black student Stephen Lawrence by a group of white teenage boys.
What followed was one of the most complex and mishandled murder investigations in Metropolitan Police history allowing the suspected killers to evade justice for almost 20 years.
His parents Doreen and Neville Lawrence fought back and refused to accept the decision that was initially made on their son's death.
For the first time, BBC One will be looking at every aspect of the case including the subsequent inquiries, pulling it into one complete timeline.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence said: "My son Stephen was brutally taken from my family nearly 25 years ago. This documentary will be the definitive narrative of the events of the past quarter of a century - a full, frank and comprehensive drawing together of the story that has shaped the lives of both my family and myself."
She added: "But in addition to that, it is my story - that of a parent’s loss of a child, a sibling taken in unimaginable circumstances from his brother and sister and our family’s fight for justice against the odds and the system that we always believed was there to help and protect us all without the evil of racism. With every story comes an end and this final BBC documentary will be my final public word on the events. Whilst Stephen will always travel with us, a new journey is ahead for us all."
The Victim
The Victim is a gripping legal thriller told through the eyes of the plaintiff and the accused, through one criminal trial. Set in Edinburgh, within Scotland’s legal system, the drama promises a constantly twisting perspective on who is really ‘the victim’.
Carl a hard-working family man from Dundee, is the victim of an unprovoked attack after being identified online as a notorious child murderer living with a new identity. Should Carl keep to himself and wait for the smoke to clear, or try to prove his innocence? Is he simply the tragic victim of mistaken identity, or the dangerous killer he is suspected of being in the first place?
Anna is the mother of a teenage boy who was murdered twenty years ago by a then 14-year-old boy. Having campaigned to be told of the killer’s new identity and whereabouts, she is then accused of revealing his identity online and conspiring to have him murdered. Has the anger of a grieving mother turned her into a criminal too?
The Victim will start filming in Scotland next year.
The Cry
The Cry is a psychological drama set in Scotland and Australia that chronicles the collapse of a marriage in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy, exploring the myths and truths of motherhood.
The series is written by Jacquelin Perske and adapted from the novel The Cry by Helen FitzGerald.
The abduction of a baby from a small town in Australia, is the catalyst for a journey into the disintegrating psychology of Joanna; as both she and her husband Alistair deal with a tragedy under both the white light of public scrutiny and in their private lives.
All the programmes listed above are currently working titles.
