BBC Drama

BBC announces new Welsh civil uprising drama directed by Michael Sheen

Pictures of Michael Sheen and James Graham, creators of BBC drama The Way

Co-created by Michael Sheen (Good Omens), James Graham (Sherwood) and Adam Curtis (HyperNormalisation), the drama follows the journey of one ordinary Welsh family – the Driscolls – dealing with authentic, impossible choices in a turbulent civil landscape.

When a chain of events sparks unrest across the nation, the family are forced to flee the country, leaving behind the lives they have built. Director of BBC Drama Lindsay Salt said the show is “both deeply grounded in its authenticity yet packed with imaginative spirit”.

The Split to return for a third and final series

Deborah Findlay, Annabel Scholey, Nicola Walker and Fiona Button (Credit: BBC)

From writer Abi Morgan, The Split is set in the world of London’s high end divorce circuit, examining the realities of marriage and the long reaching consequences of divorce.

The Split focuses on the complicated lives of the Defoe sisters, dependable Hannah (Nicola Walker), hedonistic Nina (Annabel Scholey) and free-spirited Rose (Fiona Button), and their tough mother Ruth (Deborah Findlay).

Ben Whishaw to star in This is Going to Hurt adaptation

Ben Whishaw and Adam Kay (Credit: BBC)

Whishaw will play the on-screen version of Kay, who also adapted the memoir for TV, which will explore what it means to be a good doctor in a system that is buckling under pressure from all angles.

Kay created the memoir using his diaries which were written in secret after sleepless nights and hectic days, giving the honest truth of what it means to be a doctor working in obstetrics and gynaecology.

The series sees Whishaw playing Kay, a doctor suffering from 97-hour work weeks, while making life and death decisions and dealing with surmounting pressure and responsibility.

BBC commissions adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends

Sally Rooney (Credit BBC)

The new series follows the adaptation of her second novel, Normal People, which airs this spring.

The series will be produced by Element Pictures, directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie McDonald, with several episodes written by Alice Birch.

Conversations With Friends follows two college students who make an unexpected and life changing connection with a married couple.

BBC One drama Baptiste will return for second series

Tchéky Karyo and Fiona Shaw (credit: BBC)

The series will see Tchéky Karyo (The Missing) reprise his role as the retired police investigator Julian Baptiste. Karyo will be joined by Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve), who will play a British Ambassador whose entire family goes missing during a skiing holiday in the Hungarian mountains.

As the case descends into something far more brutal and dangerous, Baptiste must navigate the secretive and corrupt underworld of Budapest and the unrelenting media to solve this high-profile international case.

BBC announces new legal drama Showtrial

The six-part series focuses on a trial that grips the nation and is at the centre of a media storm, putting a harsh spotlight on the victim, the accused and both their families.

The trial explores the disappearance of Hannah Ellis, a hard-working student and daughter of a single mum.

Following her disappearance, Talitha Campbell, an arrogant daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur, is arrested and charged as the perpetrator.

Loud and proud: Gentlemen Jack creators celebrate the drama's success

O’Hooley & Tidow , Anne Choma, Sally Wainwright and Dr Finn Mackay (Credit: Dee Robertson)

Gentleman Jack wowed critics and audiences alike when it aired on BBC One earlier this year. This was a Sunday-night period drama with a difference – based on the diaries of early 19th-century landowner, industrialist and traveller Anne Lister, it revealed a woman determined to explore her lesbian sexuality.