COMMISSIONERS
Forensics: The Real CSI BBC
The BBC’s Factual TV commissioning team has around £250m to spend annually. In the last year, since consolidating the factual department to include arts and classical music, it has been focused on programming of scale and stickiness, to help grow BBC iPlayer.
Although there’s an increasing focus on non-linear, commissioning is still framed for channels and day- parts. The channels are viewed as a launchpad for the content on iPlayer, with titles like Great British Sewing Bee, Ambulance, The Planets and The Trump Show seeing linear success leading to strong iPlayer performance.
Regionality and diversity are now hard- baked into commissioning. There’s £100 million spend ring-fenced for diverse suppliers and story-telling, across three years to 2024. And, with the target of 60 per cent of network commissioning outside of London, structured through the BBC Across the UK plan, the balance has tipped outside of London.
ACROSS THE UK
As part of the Across the UK plan, the BBC has doubled the number
08 See the Televisual Factual Films at
televisual.com
of Nations co-commissions from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and the English regions on UK-wide channels. The demand is for ideas that reflect lives across the UK referencing existing titles such as Saving Lives at Sea, This Farming Life, Eat Well for Less?, Springwatch and Countryfile.
In a specific push, four series have been commissioned for 2022 on BBC Two and iPlayer, one from each region: Yorkshire Born from Candour; Highland Blues from Firecrest Films; The Hotel People from Waddell Media in Northern Ireland; and Reunion Hotel from Welsh indie Darlun. Going forward, ideas could be through access, could have talent attached, could be a light format with a regional identity.
One specific call-out is for a huge factual entertainment series that has regional portrayal at its heart on BBC Two for 8pm. Currently well served for rural settings, the interest is in overlooked worlds, like towns or lesser known cities, or new ways of treating familiar places.
Cornerstones of the factual schedule, such Ambulance, Forensics: The Real CSI, or Murder 24/7, can often be given a regional twist. Finding the next big access- based returner is always high on the agenda, but it’s not just about the access, or where it’s set; it’s the way that the access is framed that is critical. How you tell the story, what makes that fresh and gets to the heart of the matter is as important as getting an entry pass.
REALITY FOR COMPETITION
Formats are another perennial on the wish list. What’s the next thing to follow Interior Design Masters in factual entertainment or, in history, A House Through Time? A high volume, lower cost idea in the mould of Digging for Britain is another brief, ideally with a format that could also have potential for stories from around the country. Science formats are well served, including DNA Family Secrets and Birmingham-based All that Glitters: Britain’s Next Jewellery Star, but there’s room for more, possibly in consumer science.
Patrick Holland Director of Factual, Arts & Classical Music
DOCUMENTARY
Clare Sillery, Head of Documentary Commissioning, Content
Emma Loach Commissioning Editor
Emily Smith Commissioning Editor
Hamish Fergusson Commissioning Editor
Max Gogarty Commissioning Editor
Beejal Patel Commissioning Editor
Carl Callam Commissioning Editor
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Gian Quaglieni Commissioning Editor
Sarah Waldron Executive Producer, This World
HISTORY
Clare Sillery, Head of Documentaries and History
Simon Young Commissioning Editor
Daisy Scalchi Commissioning Editor
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