Drama season set to launch on BBC Daytime

The drama season starts at the end of October with The Moonstone, a brand new five-part period mystery featuring John Thompson, followed by series eight of Jimmy McGovern’s highly acclaimed drama Moving On, series two of The Coroner starring Claire Goose, and concluding with popular Australian crime drama The Doctor Blake Mysteries with Craig McLachlan, which has been acquired for a fourth series.

Much loved crime-solving priest Father Brown, starring Mark Williams, also returns to screens for a Christmas special in December, closely followed by a brand new series in January.

More episodes of Irish police drama Red Rock have also been acquired to air across afternoons on BBC One next year and Australian post-wartime drama A Place To Call Home will air on BBC Two in 2017.

Dan McGolpin, Controller of Daytime and Early-Peak, says: “We know that BBC Daytime viewers love to escape into a good story and we’ve got a fantastic mix of both original and acquired drama coming up for them this autumn and next year.”

Sue Deeks, Head of Programme Acquisition said: “Following the enduring success of A Place To Call Home and The Doctor Blake Mysteries, and a very positive response to new crime drama Red Rock, we have acquired new series of all three shows as part of BBC Daytime’s popular drama line-up.”

BBC Commissions
All commissioned by Dan McGolpin Controller of Daytime and Early-Peak

The Moonstone - BBC One
5x45’
John Thomson (Cold Feet, The Fast Show) and Sarah Hadland (Miranda) lead the cast of The Moonstone - a brand new period adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ beloved novel. Thomson plays the legendary Sergeant Cuff, with Hadland playing the pious and unwittingly hilarious Miss Clack.

A diamond goes missing after a party at an English country house, and numerous suspects have a motive for its disappearance. The charismatic Franklin Blake realises he can only win the heart of his true love, the beautiful and independent Rachel Verinder, if he finds the thief. He persuades the celebrated detective Sergeant Cuff out of retirement to assist him in investigating the theft. Full of cliffhangers, tragedy and intrigue, The Moonstone is the perfect treat for BBC One Daytime viewers.

The Moonstone will air as part of the BBC #LoveToRead season, supported by BBC Learning.
Executive Producers: Jo Sargent and John Yorke for King Bert Productions and Dan McGolpin for the BBC

Moving On - BBC One
5x 45’
Moving On, the acclaimed daytime drama series created by Jimmy McGovern, returns for its eighth series. Each of the five episodes tells a self-contained, contemporary story, with compelling characters who have reached a turning point in their lives and are trying to ‘move on’.

In ‘Eighteen’ Mati (Antonio Akeel) finds that his application for the right to remain in the UK has been denied and he will be deported back to Afghanistan, on his eighteenth birthday. Devastated and terrified at the prospect of leaving the country, Mati goes on the run.

In ‘Zero’, directed by Paul McGann, Nathan (Aron Julius) is a hard-working young man working two part-time jobs and struggling to move out of his parents’ house to start a life with his girlfriend, Lucy (Emma Lau). When he is offered a job at a luxury car factory he can’t believe his luck. However, should he be more concerned that it's a zero hours contract?

Executive Producers: Colin McKeown and Jimmy McGovern for LA Productions and Dan McGolpin for the BBC

The Coroner – BBC One
10x45’
Returning for a second series, Coroner Jane Kennedy, played by Claire Goose (Waking the Dead), investigates sudden or unexplained deaths in the English costal community of Lighthaven, South Devon. Jane continues to work with her former flame Detective Sergeant Davey Higgins (Matt Bardock) and is forced to deal with their past when the family member of an old school friend is found dead in a suspicious car accident.

This series, Jane must also put her own fears to one side to find out who is to blame for a skydiving accident when a parachute is tampered with. Trying to get justice for the dead, will Jane find the answers she is looking for, when her life is more haphazard than ever?

The Coroner is produced out of BBC Studios in Birmingham
Executive Producer: Will Trotter

Father Brown Christmas Special - BBC One
Father Brown investigates when the son of a Duke is abducted from Lady Felicia’s yuletide ball. Canon Fox (Roger May) pays a visit to inform Father Brown (Mark Williams) and Mrs McCarthy (Sorcha Cusack) that the Duke of Frome, John Langton (Ray Coulthard) will be attending Christmas Mass at St Mary’s. Later at the Yuletide ball Inspector Mallory (Jack Deam) is informed that the infant is missing. With a ladder against the nursery window, the Inspector surmises that the baby has been kidnapped: all they can do now is wait. Can he find the child in time for Christmas?

Father Brown is produced out of BBC Studios in Birmingham
Executive Producer: Will Trotter

Acquisitions
All acquired by BBC Head of Acquisitions Sue Deeks

The Doctor Blake Mysteries – BBC One
8x45’
The fourth series of the crime drama about the Australian Second World War veteran Doctor Lucien Blake (Craig McLachlan), who solves crimes from his local medical practice. In this series Doctor Blake returns to Ballarat to once again solve a series of strange and baffling murders, only to find that change is afoot, nothing is sacred, and no one is safe...

December Media for ABC Australia. Executive Producer Tony Wright. Producer George Adams.

A Place To Call Home - BBC Two
12 x 50’
Australian romantic drama set after World War II, following one woman as she returns home to start a new life after spending 20 years abroad. In series four we see the relationships between the characters as affected by two contrasting social issues in 1954; the conservative wave of fear generated by the 'Reds under the beds' scare, and the wave of liberal change that opened up new social and moral choices for Australians at the time.

Seven Network Australia. Executive producers John Holmes, Julie McGauran, Penny Win
A Place To Call Home returns early in 2017.

Red Rock - BBC One
40x40’
Red Rock is a drama based around a busy Garda station, just removed from the big city, which tells the story of a feud between two local families - the Hennessys and the Kielys. Audiences were left on an emotional cliff-hanger this summer with the death of Superintendent James McKay. In season two we see how the shocking murder sends waves through the community.

Red Rock is an award-winning Irish drama series from All3Media International, produced by Element Pictures and Company Pictures.
Created by Executive Producer Peter McKenna, whose drama writing credits include Casualty, EastEnders, The Musketeers (all BBC) and Fair City (RTE)
Red Rock returns in summer 2017.

RM

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