BBC announces five ambitious documentary commissions
Patrick Holland, BBC Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, today announces five new documentaries for BBCs One, Two, Three and Four.
Published: 16 May 2016
We are delighted to announce such a diverse and distinctive range of films from such a terrific group of programme-makers. The variety of stories and film-making approaches shows the ambition we have at BBC Documentaries.
Following on from the success of critically acclaimed documentaries such as Hillsborough; How To Die: Simon’s Choice; Chasing Dad; Abused: The Untold Story; and The Prosecutors, these five new commissions continue to bring the audience documentaries with extraordinary access to a wide range of subjects, including the American justice system, the London Ambulance Service and the Bristol drugs trade.
Patrick says: “We are delighted to announce such a diverse and distinctive range of films from such a terrific group of programme-makers. The variety of stories and film-making approaches shows the ambition we have at BBC Documentaries. What unites these projects is the desire to find the very best ways to tell the most important and engaging stories."
Ambulances: Life And Death On The Streets is a revealing 3x60 observational documentary for BBC One which gives an exclusive insight into how London’s Ambulance service – that was last year put into special measures - deals with this ever-growing city and its health extremes.
London is one of the most diverse and economically polarised cities in the world. The city is getting bigger, richer, poorer, unhealthier and older – all at the same time - and The London Ambulance Service is at the front line of these inequalities, and operates around the clock in one of the most challenging working environments in the world.
Each episode provides a complete 360° look at the movements of the ambulances pulsing through the city, and unique access to the ambulance control centre, who wrestle with the complex logistics required to make sure they are dispatched in the shortest time possible and the most urgent cases are prioritised to save lives.
Every call and call-out will be logged and analysed - with cameras capturing the dramatic shifts of paramedics and call handlers on the front line of emergency care. Using cutting-edge graphics, the data will be used to illustrate the wide-ranging challenges the service handles every day, and to create a heat map of London’s health issues.
And behind the data, the series will meet the people who are working day in and day out, from paramedics to 999 call operators, to keep on top of the pressure and provide emergency care to Londoners across the capital.
Ambulances: Life And Death On The Streets is a 3x60 series commissioned by Danny Horan, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries. It is executive produced by Emma Loach and Simon Ford for Dragonfly, part of the Endemol Shine Group.
From Minnow Films, the team who made acclaimed series, The Detectives, American Justice will explore the American justice system in the state of Florida for BBC Two.
Located in the city of Jacksonville, Duval County – a Republican heartland with a reputation for tough justice - this series tells the story of the justice system through the eyes of those who administer it every day. With access to the criminal courthouse, the sheriff’s office, county jail, public defender and the state attorney, American Justice will offer viewers a rare and revealing look inside the system.
From crime scenes and trials to incarceration and beyond, the series will dissect each aspect of the justice system. Exploring the ethical, moral and legal dilemmas faced by the characters featured, the series will follow the same cases from the perspective of the rookie cop to the hardline attorney, finding human stories and extraordinary narratives at every turn of the wheel.
Filmed in the run up to the US Presidential elections, Florida will be placed under the microscope. American Justice will ask important questions and explore the key themes at the forefront of debate: gun laws, police, mass incarceration, juvenile justice, race and poverty – the series will reveal more about the wider issues faced by Americans across the entire US and provide a unique perspective on justice in America.
American Justice was commissioned by Clare Sillery, Commissioning Editor of Documentaries. The executive producer is Colin Barr for Minnow Films.
After the success of Hunters of The South Seas, Will Millard is going back to Indonesia for A Year With The Tribe (w/t) for another three-part series for BBC Two. But this time, instead of spending a month with three different tribes, he is going to commit to a single location, which he will return to four times over the course of a year.
He will fully immerse himself in the lives and stories of the tribe’s people, and using his Indonesian language skills, open up the community in a way that has never been achieved before.
Births, marriages, deaths, initiation rites and the changing of the seasons all bring their own drama, and Will will be there to share it. Spending a year with the same people will take him beyond the role of the 'curious visitor', and into open up a whole new way of presenting anthropology on television.
A Year With The Tribe (w/t) was commissioned by Clare Paterson, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries. The executive producers are Will Anderson and Andrew Palmer for Keo Films.
Britain is in the middle of a drugs epidemic – the proportion of the population taking drugs is increasing over time*, and more people are dying from drugs than ever before.**
Our Drugs War, a 3x60 series for BBC Three, will be the first series to take an in-depth look at both the consumption and prohibition of illegal drugs in one British city: Bristol.
We will meet the drug users, abusers, dealers, and those who tackle the growing problem on a day-by-day basis, including professionals from Avon and Somerset Police, the Bristol Drugs Project, Bristol City Council, and those who offer support and services to people caught up in the drugs war, both from the private sector and the NHS.
Our Drugs War was commissioned by Jamie Balment, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries. The executive producer is Sacha Mirzoeff for BBC Studios.
Storyville’s Unlocking The Cage, for BBC Four, follows animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from human as he argues on behalf of four captive chimpanzees in New York State.
Supported by affidavits from primatologists around the world, Steve maintains that, based on scientific evidence, cognitively complex animals such as chimpanzees, whales, dolphins, and elephants have the capacity for limited personhood rights (such as bodily liberty) that would protect them from physical abuse.
After 30 years of struggling with ineffective animal welfare laws, Steve and his legal team are making history by filing the first lawsuits that seek to transform an animal from a thing with no rights to a person with legal protections. As the public and judicial system show increasing receptiveness to Steve’s impassioned arguments, Unlocking The Cage is an intimate look at a lawsuit that could forever transform our legal system, and one man’s lifelong quest to protect 'nonhuman' animals.
Unlocking The Cage was commissioned by Kate Townsend, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries (Storyville). The executive producer is Frazer Pennebaker for Pennebaker Hegedus Films, and the co-directors are DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. The editor of Storyville is Nick Fraser
Notes to Editors
All programmes also commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Controller, TV Channels and iPlayer.
* source: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/-sp-drug-use-is-rising-in-the-uk-but-were-not-addicted
** source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34136930
BW
