Controller Charlotte Moore announces new documentaries for BBC One
Speaking today at the Sheffield DocFest, Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC One, announces new documentary commissions that broaden the range of subjects and perspectives on the channel.
Published: 9 June 2015
From singles to series, these documentaries have gained extraordinarily intimate access to four distinctive worlds that will move, provoke and challenge the BBC One audience.
Charlotte Moore says: "From singles to series, these documentaries have gained extraordinarily intimate access to four distinctive worlds that will move, provoke and challenge the BBC One audience.
“From Brett's inspiring story of triumph over adversity to capturing what it means to live with cancer today, from exploring racial tensions in Burnley through the eyes of cab companies to a window into the world of Britain's new aristocracy in Longleat."
From Roger Graef comes Brett: A Life With No Arms. Brett Nielsen is a man for all seasons: sports car enthusiast, record producer, musician, entrepreneur, a loving single father to two kids, with three ex-wives and in love again. He also has no arms because of Thalidomide, taken by his mother in the early Sixties to counteract the effects of morning sickness.
Filmmaker Roger Graef’s first-ever documentary, One Of Them Is Brett, was made 50 years ago. It was a portrait of Brett as a spirited four-year old - riding a bicycle, feeding himself, fighting his brothers with his feet. His parents, Barbara and Peter Nielsen, moved from Australia to Britain to get him prosthetic arms, which Brett immediately rejected. And it stayed that way.
Fifty years later, Roger has tracked down Brett back home in Australia. This follow-up film is about Brett’s life leading up to their reunion. His optimism and humour has remained undimmed.
Following his mother’s death, Brett plans to move his 84-year-old father, Peter, from Sydney to live with him, in an emotionally charged reversal of roles. Brett is also releasing a new CD of his songs, and making music videos. One is a protest against the makers of Thalidomide, the German firm Grunenthal. After 50 years of avoiding being seen as a victim, Brett has increasingly become politicised and now wants to take them on because he believes what they’ve done is wrong.
This is a story of triumph over adversity. In the words of Brett, “it doesn't matter what happens to you in your life, it matters how you deal with it.”
For the first time ever, more than 50 percent of people diagnosed with cancer today will survive. No longer is it the death sentence it once was.
In Cancer (working title), a three-part observational and rigged-camera series, KEO Films will explore the world of cancer through the lives of people living with it.
With unprecedented access to hospitals and patients around the country, the series will take an intimate look at what it means to live with cancer today: from the life-altering moment of diagnosis captured on rigged cameras in consulting rooms, the minutiae of life shared between strangers on a chemotherapy unit, to the moments of family life where cancer is ever-present. Filming across one year, the patients’ stories will play out in their own timeframe.
By capturing the honest, moving and at times funny experiences of people living with cancer, both in hospital and at home, the series will celebrate the extraordinary endurance of the human spirit when faced with a life-altering diagnosis.
All Change At Longleat sees a new couple take over one of the country’s most extraordinary aristocratic estates. As the ever-flamboyant owner, Lord Bath, winds down his involvement, his eldest son has moved in downstairs, along with his new wife, Emma, who will be Britain’s first black marchioness.
Built in 1580, the stately home of Longleat has been in the same aristocratic family for 14 generations. In the 1960s, Lord Bath’s father opened the first safari park outside of Africa after it became increasingly difficult to afford the upkeep of Longleat. He installed a menagerie of wild animals in the gardens, including lions, hippos and chimpanzees. Today, a host of exotic animals continue to prowl the grounds.
This national treasure is now theirs to enjoy. But challenges lie ahead, as Lord and Lady Bath take on a staff of hundreds, two villages and a safari park, along with the enormous but fragile Elizabethan stately home filled with priceless antiquities. As they try to adjust to their new responsibilities, some of their decisions aren’t welcomed by everyone...
This series is an intimate upstairs-downstairs portrait of an aristocratic family at a time of transition, and the colourful characters that work for and serve them.
The final film will tell the story of Burnley taxis, narrated through the experiences of the multicultural drivers and their customers.
Through this lens we get a gripping portrait of life in Burnley today.
Notes to Editors
All programmes commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC One, and Maxine Watson, acting Head of Commissioning, Documentaries
Brett: A Life With No Arms (1x60) is produced by Films of Record. The Executive Producer is Neil Grant. The Commissioning Editor is Maxine Watson. Produced/directed/narrated by Roger Graef.
Cancer (working title, 3x60) is produced by KEO Films. The Executive Producers are Will Anderson and Andrew Palmer. The Commissioning Editor is Clare Paterson
All Change At Longleat (3x60) is produced by Shine TV. The Executive Producer is Alf Lawrie. The Commissioning Editor is Maxine Watson
Black Cab White Cab (1x60) is produced by Firecracker Films. The Executive Producer is David Dehaney. The Commissioning Editor is Maxine Watson
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