BBC Three

Series one was met with critical acclaim, gaining 6.5 million iPlayer requests just over halfway through the series.

BBC Three has opened applications for the next series, ready to find another group of queens who will show off their talents and slay the competition.

During series one, the queens faced several challenges to test all elements of their drag ability, from forming standout girl bands, to strutting down the runway in a regal creation.

Host RuPaul thanked the BBC and fans for the “overwhelming” support for the UK series.

The series sees young singletons search for love by teaming up with Filly and snooping around the homes of three potential suitors, before choosing to go on a blind date with one of them.

Someone’s bedroom can reveal a lot about a person and the singletons will get to see if their potential dates have any skeletons hidden in their closet.

The series will be available exclusively on BBC Three on 3rd October at 8pm, with episodes available weekly on BBC iPlayer.

Ten unique drag queens will be competing to win the title of the UK’s first Drag Race Superstar, having all been picked by Mama Ru herself.

A sneak peak of the first episode has been released, which includes judges Michelle Visage, Alan Carr and guest judge Andrew Garfield. 

The first challenge requires the queens to showcase two royal looks that will rule the runway.

Starstruck follows Rose (Matafeo), a twenty-something millennial living in London struggling to juggle two dead-end jobs to make ends meet.

An awkward morning-after-the-night-before is made even worse when she discovers she has accidentally slept with a film star, setting in motion a series of complications she could never have imagined.

Matafeo is a comedian and actress who won the Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2018 for her solo show, Horndog. 

“If you are defensive and precious about your idea, and you won’t let it evolve, whether that’s in your brainstorm or when you’re pitching to the commissioner, it’s just never going to go anywhere,” explained Catherine Lynch, creative director at Initial TV, which makes ITV gameshow Tenable. 

Initial’s head of development Kate Stannard agreed: “What you end up seeing on telly is often quite different to the thing you first said in the room.”

The series – set to air on BBC Three later this year – will see teams of friends faced with four individual chambers, each containing a series of challenges.

Starting the game with £5,000 in prize money, the team must endure a series of shocks, surprises and scares as they complete the various challenges.

Each chamber will elicit a reaction from the team, from blood curdling screams, to shouts of joy, but each time one of the group screams, the prize money drops.

Comedy, the late, great Tony Hancock would often tell his dinner guests, was simply “frustration, misery, boredom, worry – all the things people suffer from”.

This may go some way to explaining the success of a crop of deceptively simple, single-camera comedy-dramas that have all but replaced our more traditional idea of the sitcom in the television schedules.

Oscar-nominated Lenny Abrahamson (Room, Frank) and Bafta-winner Hettie MacDonald (Howard’s End) are on board to direct the 12-part BBC Three drama, with filming due to take place in Dublin, Sligo and Italy.

The modern love story has been adapted for the screen by Sally Rooney, alongside writers Alice Birch and Mark O’Rowe.

Normal People follows the tender but complex relationship of popular and easy-going Connell and lonely and intimidating Marianne.

If anyone ever doubted that comedy and tragedy go hand in hand, look no further than the much-garlanded BBC Two sitcom, Mum, starring Lesley Manville as Cathy, a late-­middle-aged mother coming to terms with the death of her husband.

Making a TV audience laugh is among the most difficult skills for any screenwriter to learn, but to make them laugh one minute and almost cry a few moments later is the hallmark of a very special talent.