BBC Two

BBC Two reveals cast for new drama The Luminaries

Eve Hewson as Lucy Elkins in The Knick (Credit: Sky)

Set in New Zealand during the 1860s gold rush, The Luminaires follows British adventurer Anna Wetherell (Eve Hewson) as she searches for a new beginning across the globe.

When she falls for fortune hunter Emery Staines during an encounter on the Wild West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island, the star-crossed lovers become entangled in a world of murder, revenge and tragedy. Especially with the not-so-pleasant Lydia Wells (Eva Green) and rich boy Francis Carver (Marton Csokas) causing trouble for the couple.

Watch the trailer for BBC Two's new thriller Black Earth Rising

RTS award-winner Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum) stars as Kate Ashby, a legal investigator who was rescued as a child during the Rwandan genocide and adopted by British international criminal law prosecutor Eve (Harriet Walter - The Crown).

The eight-part series will follow Kate as she is thrown into the middle of a case prosecuting an African militia leader that Eve takes on at the International Criminal Court. 

BBC Two announces first British virtual reality property show

Watch This Space, presented by Angela Scanlon, will see ordinary homes transformed by architects Laura Clark and Robert Jamison into extraordinary spaces.

The episodes will follow two couples with conflicting ideas about the design of their homes as Clark and Jamison work with their different visions to create a unique design.

The homeowners will be able to explore the architects' designs using cutting-edge VR technology which will allow them to see rooms in their house transform, giving them a chance to decide on which design comes out on top.

Who's who in Versailles S1-3? A guide to the French court

So what has happened over the past two series?

Written and created by David Wolstencroft , the mind behind BBC drama Spooks, and Simon Mirren (Waking the Dead), the first series followed King Louis XIV’s political machinations as he shifted the French court away from Paris to Versailles.

Then in series two literally anything could have happened. But it didn’t. Instead the French went to war with the Dutch, to bed with each other and to prison for murder.

Richard Gere and Helen McCrory to star in new BBC drama MotherFatherSon

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Richard Gere will play charismatic self-made American businessman, Max, who owns media outlets around the world. Helen McCrory will play his long suffering, estranged wife, Kathryn, a British heiress. Billy Howle will portray their 30 year-old son, Caden, who runs one of his father’s UK newspapers and is primed to become one of the most powerful men on the planet. Like father, like son.

Speaking to the RTS in 2017, writer Tom Rob Smith promised "an intense psychological family drama set against the backdrop of power and politics."

BBC Two announces new comedy line up

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Leading the charge is Defending The Guilty a courtroom drama from Kieron Quirke (Cuckoo). Katherine Parkinson (Humans) plays Caroline, the cynical and experienced pupil master of Will (played by Flower's Will Sharpe), an idealistic pupil barrister. Will must navigate his way through the complexities of the justice system, to fight it out with several other hopeful contenders for a single job at the end of training. Expect cut-throat exploits and plenty of back-stabbing.

BBC Two announces new factual commissions

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Other commissions include the deeply personal David Harewood: Psychosis and Me, and innovative new formats such as Murder, in which a crime is seen through the eyes of the professionals who investigate it. It was also announced that successful existing series including Hospital, A House Through Time and Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life have been recommissioned. 

Danny Boyle and Banksy put on 'Alternativity' in new documentary

The film follows Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) as he travels to Bethlehem for an unconventional nativity performance, in a place which Banksy deems "the least Christmassy place on earth".

The "Alternativity" takes place in a carpark near Manger Square, Bethlehem, which is widely believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ. 

Having never travelled to the Middle East before, and with extreme instructions from the mysterious artist whom he has never met, Boyle travels to Bethlehem to put on a festive show from scratch.