Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123:
“I see the Daily Mail is reporting that Bottom returns for a new 6 part series on BBC2 next year. Interesting if true (and it's any good).”
They're referring to Hooligan's Island, which was announced today at the TV festival.
D.M.N. posted all the links earlier, but probably worth copying over the details of the new BBC Two shows:
Quote:
“DRAMA
Wolf Hall
A thrilling six-part adaptation Hilary Mantel’s novels, the Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies. England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If Henry VIII dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Into the impasse steps Thomas Cromwell; son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a bully and a charmer, Cromwell has broken all the rules of a rigid society in his rise to power, and is prepared to break some more. Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and the papacy, he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry VIII’s desires.
Writer: Peter Straughan, Indie: Company Pictures, George Faber, BBC exec: Polly Hill
The Honourable Woman
Following the critically acclaimed, The Shadow Line, Hugo Blick returns with The Honourable Woman (6x60). The daughter of a UK Zionist gun-runner inherits her murdered father's company and by dramatically inverting its purpose from supplying tanks to tractors starts a deadly political war.
Hugo Blick says: “This is a suspenseful spy thriller about inheritance, political and personal, and the lengths some spies will go to not only to deceive their enemies - but also themselves.”
The Honourable Woman is being made by Eight Rooks. The BBC Executive Producer is Polly Hill.
COMEDY
Our Men
David Mitchell and Robert Webb lead the cast in their first new comedy drama series; Our Men follows the lives and loves of the British Embassy team in Tazbekistan, one of the ex-Soviet ‘Stans’. David Mitchell plays Keith Davis, the newly appointed British Ambassador of Tazbekistan – ambitious, he intends to make his mark in this posting. Standing beside him is Neil Tilly, Deputy Head of Mission (Robert Webb). While Davis is out representing Britain, Neil is in the Embassy pulling the levers and managing the staff. It’s a tough posting where they are far more likely to be drinking lethal vodka in the President’s hunting yurt than having G&Ts on the lawn.
Written by James Wood and Rupert Walters, the executive producers are Kenton Allen and Luke Alkin for Big Talk Productions and Chris Sussman for BBC Comedy.
Heading Out
Broadcaster and comedian Sue Perkins will take the lead role in a self-penned new comedy, Heading Out. Perkins plays Sara – a veterinarian so skilled, she can spay a tortoise one-handed. She’s successful, she’s popular – there’s just one chink in her armour – she’s too scared to tell her parents she’s gay. On the evening of her 40th birthday, Sara’s friends give her an ultimatum: either she tells her parents when they come to visit in six weeks’ time, or they will. To help Sara achieve this goal, they’ve saved up to buy a series of sessions with Toria, the eccentric and mildly-qualified lifestyle coach / therapist, and so the countdown begins...
Heading Out was commissioned by Kristian Smith, Executive Editor, BBC Comedy Commissioning. The 6x30 series is a co-production between RED Production Company and Square Peg TV. Nicola Shindler is executive producing for RED Production Company with Debi Allen executive producer for Square Peg TV. The executive producer for the BBC is Kristian Smith.
Hooligans' Island
Next year it will be 18 years since Richie Rich and Eddie Hitler last graced our television screens in cult hit, Bottom. So what has happened to these titans of comedy? Are they still living in one of the dirtiest and least hygienic flats uncondemned by Health and Safety? Are they still drinking neat furniture polish whilst hitting each other over the head with large metal objects, setting fire to each other as they seek to impress gullible members of the opposite sex, and each other? Or are they down the pub?
No, they are abandoned, lost, shipwrecked on the tropical hell hole that is Hooligans Island and they are still hitting each other over the head with large metal objects, still chasing women, even though there are none on the island, and still waiting for that job seekers allowance cheque as they distil something quite like alcohol, only worse. And they are back on BBC Two in 2013 for six new episodes starring Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson. Be afraid, be very afraid and then just a little bit bilious.
Hooligans' Island is a BBC In-house comedy co-production with Phil McIntyre productions. It will be executive produced by Jon Plowman for the BBC and Lucy Ansbro for Phil McIntyre Productions.
Count Arthur Strong
Graham Linehan (IT Crowd, Father Ted, Black Books), is working with Steve Delaney, the creator of Sony Award-winning radio character Count Arthur Strong, to take the character on the full journey from Edinburgh cult to his television debut.
Count Arthur Strong is an elderly pompous show-business legend… though really just an out-of-work deluded thespian originally from Doncaster, in the north of England. Delaney's geriatric creation is a mixture of physical and mental clumsiness, mirthful malapropisms and Tourettic tics, whose pride forbids him from ever conceding fallibility, even as his world crashes around him.
The 6x30 series is being made by Retort and Komedia Entertainment. Executive producers are Jon Rolph for Retort, Richard Daws for Komedia and Gregor Sharp for the BBC.
Gregor Sharp says: “We are absolutely delighted to see Graham and Steve join the immensely talented group of writers and comedians making brilliant shows across the BBC channels.”
FACTUAL
The Genius Of Invention
In 2013, BBC Two will look back over the history of British inventions with a major year-long celebration of British inventiveness and ingenuity, with programmes from history, science, documentaries and arts. In The Genius Of Invention, presenters including Michael Mosley, Liz Bonin, the Hairy Bikers, Professor Brian Cox and Dan Snow will explore the lasting influence of Britain’s scientific and engineering history.
The World That Women Made (w/t)
It is an inescapable truth that throughout history, women’s artistry has rarely been seen as ‘true art’ in the eyes of institutions and commerce. Yet, the female hand and the female gaze have more than played their played their part in shaping the visual culture of the modern world.
In a three-part series, Amanda Vickery travels from the Renaissance to the 20th century to explore and explain the story of female creativity through the ages. Tackling art professionals and ordinary women, Amanda will explore how the story of women in art can help us unlock the key to the female psyche and how the representation can help us understand how artistic attitudes and social tastes have evolved through the years.
The 3x60 series is being executive produced by Ross Wilson for Matchlight Productions and Adam Barker for the BBC.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/lat...mmissions.html
Some exciting sounding stuff in there. I love to see a big fat historical drama with plenty of ambition and the new Mitchell & Webb series looks worth a look too. BBC Two feels like a channel on the up, adding plenty of scripted sparkle to the factual bread-and-butter and I hope they can sustain that sort of momentum. Though the overall channel share is on the decline, it feels like there's an awful lot more serious, flagship programmes being produced now - big science/history docs, large-scale factual seasons, lavish drama and BBC Films. Great stuff. In fact, perhaps thats
why the channel share is on the decline. Not that it should stop them - The Hollow Crown got dismal numbers, but it's clearly what the channel should be doing more of.)
Overall, I just feel a lot more certain about what BBC Two is actually there for than I have done in a long while. Janice Hadlow has done a good job, and many could learn from her - starting with Jay Hunt. C4 just seems so incredibly self-satisfied these days. Their love of their own ethos seems so strong, that they seem to neither notice nor care when the schedules are pumped with massively derivative programmes from poached big names, or when they actively recoil from the opportunity to replace fading favourites. Bizarre.
