Killing Eve kills it on BBC iPlayer over first weekend
The new series of Killing Eve has already proved a huge smash on BBC iPlayer, with episode one requested 864,000 times and the box set for series two requested 2.6m times in the first 36 hours of it being available - up 79 percent on the series one opener.
BBC puts fairness and supporting those most in need at the heart of decision on over 75s licence fees
Today, the BBC Board has announced its decision on the future of the over 75s licence fee concession. The Government’s current scheme comes to an end next year and Parliament - through legislation - gave the responsibility to the BBC Board to make this decision.
Radio
The six winners of this year’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show’s 500 Words children’s writing competition were announced during a live broadcast from Windsor Castle. The final was attended by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall who is an Honorary Judge and delivered a speech to the audience and met all the winners.
Analysis of short stories submitted to BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words competition by Oxford University Press reveals that the Brexit impasse and Theresa May’s travails are inspiring children’s creativity.
Bob Harris will be taking a break from presenting The Country Show With Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 due to illness.
BBC Young Musician, the biennial search for the UK’s most talented young classical performers, has officially launched, opening the call-out for entries for the 2020 competition.
For the first time, Fingal's Cave - the awesome natural structure on the uninhabited island of Staffa in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland - will be brought to homes and mobile devices across the UK through BBC Radio 3 documentary strand Between The Ears, in collaboration with The Glasgow School of Art’s School of Simulation and Visualisation.
Comedy
Warm-hearted family sitcom, King Gary, has been commissioned to series for BBC One, following a successful pilot which broadcast in December 2018. The 6x30’ series, which is produced by Shiny Button Productions, part of EndemolShine UK, starts production this weekend.
Drama
The BBC, Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited announced the commission of the latest Agatha Christie story to be adapted for television. The Pale Horse, first published in 1961, will be adapted by Bafta-nominated writer Sarah Phelps.
Trigonometry is a love story about three people who are made for each other, written by Duncan Macmillan and Effie Woods in their first joint television project. Gary Carr, Ariane Labed and Thalissa Teixeira are to lead the cast.
Entertainment
The Family Brain Games is a new prime-time game show coming to BBC Two this summer. The series will be stripped over two weeks.
Series 27 of the world’s biggest motoring show, Top Gear, sees Chris Harris joined by comedian Paddy McGuinness and cricket legend Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, with a little help from the white-suited racing driver known to the authorities - and indeed the rest of us - as the Stig.
Factual
Nick Broomfield and Gillian Wearing join Vanessa Engle and Werner Herzog as BBC Arts announced new Arena commissions at Sheff Doc/Fest
BBC Two has commissioned a new two-part series fronted by comedian and writer Sara Pascoe.
Award-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar moved back to his hometown of Huddersfield to cover the death of Mohammed Yassar YasYaqub, who was shot dead by police on an M62 slip road in January 2017.
BBC Storyville's Commissioning Editor Mandy Chang unveiled a fresh new look for the award-winning documentary strand at Sheffield Doc/Fest on Sunday. BBC Storyville will also, for the first time, be bringing films to BBC Three - alongside titles for BBC Four - in order to bring high-quality documentaries to an even wider TV audience.
Children
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge has joined forces with the longest running children’s TV programme in the world, Blue Peter, to launch a once-in-a-life-time competition as part of her mission to encourage children and families to get back to nature.
News
Sound the klaxon! The BBC’s award-winning Brexitcast will be coming to BBC One on Thursday nights, making the hugely successful BBC podcast into a visual event as well as an audio one.
World Service
At the BBC Food and Farming Awards in Bristol, the BBC World Service Global Champion Award was presented to Akshaya Patra - the world’s largest charity-run school meals project. This is the third year The Food Chain has presented its Global Champion Award. It looks for a person or project who is changing the way we produce, process, consume or even think about food for the better.
Northern Ireland
BBC Radio Foyle continues its birthday celebrations with the launch of a new six-part series of classic archive featuring the diverse people and places across the North West.
Corporate
Following a competitive tender process BBC Sport’s in-house production team has secured the contract to provide the event staging and TV production of BBC Sports Personality of the Year for the next three years (2019-2021).
Broadcast highlights
- Killing Eve, Saturday 8 June, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer
- Springwatch, Monday 10 June, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer
- Summer Of Rockets, Wednesday 12 June, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer
- Galdem Sugar, Thursday 13 June, BBC Three and BBC iPlayer
- New Music Show, Saturday 8 June, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds
- Rob Delaney, Sunday 9 June, BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Sounds
- The Moon, Monday 10 June, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
- Absinthe Makes The Art Grow Fonder, Wednesday 12 June, BBC Radio 4 Extra and BBC Sounds
