BBC Two
New commissioning announcements from BBC Two.
Published: 1 June 2017
Earth From Space
Britain’s Greatest Invention
Sir Trevor McDonald, Angela Rippon, Giles Coren, Len Goodman, David Harewood (pictured), Angela Scanlon and Nick Knowles to battle it out to reveal Britain’s Greatest Invention live on BBC Two
This special 90’ programme kicks off the BBC’s year-long season of science and technology programming, Tomorrow’s World. Presented by Dr Hannah Fry and automotive engineer Ant Anstead live on 15 June from the Science Museum Group's vast stores, each of the well-known faces will champion one object, from the mobile phone to the television, in a bid to persuade the BBC Two audience to vote for their invention and win the title of Britain’s Greatest Invention.
See full press release here
Nigella: At My Table
Nigella: At My Table is a delicious celebration of home cooking, the food that makes people feel happy and welcome as they sit around your table.
In her latest series, Nigella shares the food she cooks for family and friends, from fresh takes on classics she has evolved over time to colourful dishes with vibrant flavours coming out of mixing ingredients from many different cultures to bring something new to everyday eating.
Nigella says: “I'm excited to be making this new series and to share with viewers many new recipes alongside favourites that have evolved as I've cooked them over the years. At My Table continues my celebration of home cooking, infusing everyday with pleasure and flavour. What matters most in life is the connections we have with each other, and food is always at the heart of this."
Creating dishes as mouth-watering and inventive as ever, Nigella shows us those special shortcuts that make life easier without sacrificing taste, ensuring that you can spend precious time with family and friends - at your table.
The 6x30 series was commissioned by David Brindley, Head of Commissioning, Popular Factual and Factual Entertainment, and is being made by BBC Studios’ Unscripted Productions where the executive producer is Robi Dutta, the series director is Dominic Cyriax and the series producer is Hannah Griffiths. The series will be distributed by FremantleMedia International.
Diana
Abortion: What Britain Really Thinks
This topical special presented by Anne Robinson marks the 50th anniversary of the partial legalisation of abortion.
Fifty years on from the Abortion Act of 1967, abortion and the debate surrounding it is rarely far from the national and international news agenda. In just the last year there have been two separate attempts to change the legislation in Parliament, and with Donald Trump recently expanding the policy that bans US aid for overseas abortion providers and many believing he may have taken the first step towards banning abortion in the US, the debate has intensified here in the UK.
The Abortion Act of 1967 was a groundbreaking political act that shook the nation and - many argue - paved the way for a fairer, more equal society. Fifty years later the same legal guidelines govern who can and can't have an abortion. Anything outside those conditions remains a criminal offence and the act never applied in Northern Ireland, which means many women having to travel to mainland Britain for terminations.
This programme asks if this 50 year-old legislation reflects the views of modern Britain. Do recent advances in medicine mean the law is out of date?
Anne Robinson says: “Abortion remains one of the most contentious and highly debated subjects. For millions of women, worldwide it’s likely to be a traumatic choice. During the course of a groundbreaking programme we will get to prod and probe the subject as never before. A woman’s right to choose? A father’s right to have a say? After what time is an abortion unacceptable? Is it insupportable at any time?
"Fifty years on from the l967 Abortion Act we will discover just what the nation NOW thinks about abortion.”
To answer these and other questions, the programme is underpinned by one of the most comprehensive polls ever conducted into British attitudes towards abortion. A group of people with an array of opposing views and experiences will then be brought together to discuss the findings.
Over three days, the group will hear testimony from experts and answer the question: if we were to rewrite the law to reflect their opinions and beliefs, how exactly would we like it to change?
Abortion: What Britain Really Thinks (1x60) was commissioned by Patrick Holland and Tom McDonald. Fatima Salaria is the Commissioning Editor, Religion and it is being made by Raw TV where the executive producer is Dominique Walker.
Chris Packham: Me And My Asperger’s
Having recently decided to open up about having autism, Chris Packham invites us to take a step inside his mind as he attempts to better understand the condition and explain what it feels like to be him.
In Chris Packham: Me And My Asperger’s Chris speaks with brutal honesty about his autism and gives us a unique insight into how it shaped his life and the person he is. Viewers will get to see a very different Chris to the one they know and love as a presenter, spending time with him at home, with his sister (who tells us what it was like growing up with Chris), as well as his partner, who reveals what he’s like to live with now.
Challenging himself to explore this deeply personal subject, Chris will follow a family who have taken the difficult decision to put their son through a controversial treatment to ‘cure’ his autism, prompting Chris to confront the question of whether he’d ever want to be cured himself, or whether, ultimately, autism has helped make him who he is today.
Chris will also meet some of the world’s leading researchers and scientists at the cutting edge of autism research, ranging from those who want to train children to ‘tame’ their autism to people who consider being autistic to be a huge positive and are focussed on changing the way wider society sees the condition.
The film is a unique and insightful exploration into how one of our best-loved presenters has learned to live with autism.
Chris Packham: Me and My Asperger’s was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual. The Commissioning Editor is Abigail Priddle and the programme is being made by Raw, where the director is Charlie Russell.
A Vicar’s Life
In a new six-part religion series, BBC Two goes behind the scenes of the lives of country vicars at the heart of the rural community in the stunning Herefordshire countryside.
From opening fêtes to marrying local couples, vicars are knitted into the fabric of country life, acting as a pillar of support in times of crisis and personal sorrow.
This heartwarming observational series follows several rural vicars over a six-month period, from Whitsun to Christmas, shedding light on the lives of their parishioners and exploring how the vicar’s message of Christianity fits into an ever-changing 21st century.
Each episode of A Vicar’s Life will feature stories from across the county. The series will give a closer perspective on rural life, as seen through the eyes of the church. Village fetes, shooting drives, and local issues - all served up with a heavy dose of humour, charity, and inspiring local leadership.
A Vicar’s Life (6x30) was commissioned by Fatima Salaria, Commissioning Editor, Religion. It is made by BBC Studios’ Pacific Quay Productions for BBC Two and the Executive Producer is Jo Roe.
The Makeover Show
Addicted Parents: Last Chance To Keep My Children
This two-part documentary series has unique access to the only rehab in the UK to allow children to live with their mums and dads, as their parents are given one last chance to overcome their addiction to drugs or alcohol.
They arrive as a family unit; whether they leave as one is up to them. They want to stay clean and complete the six-month programme to show that they are able to look after their kids, but for years these parents have chosen drink or drugs over their children. Do they deserve a final chance?
Filmed over a year, this series follows mothers and fathers and their children through detox and recovery. The first programme follows four mothers battling years of addiction to drugs and fighting to protect their future as a family. In the second programme, a young couple face an uphill battle to turn their backs on heroin so they can leave rehab with their two year-old son. Do any of them make it out together?
Addicted Parents: Last Chance To Keep My Children (2x60) was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual; the Commissioning Editor is Elliot Reed. It is being made by Lambent Productions. The Executive Producers are Emma Wakefield and Simon Ford, and the Director is Ben Rumney.
This programme is produced in partnership with The Open University
Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop On The First Great Immigration Row
How should we respond to the vast numbers of newcomers arriving on our shores: are they a force for good to be welcomed in the tradition of tolerance, or a cause for anxiety about jobs, public services and the changing face of Britain’s towns and cities? In this provocative new programme, Ian Hislop sets out to explore the rich history that lies at the heart of our conflicted attitudes to immigration today.
Exploring attitudes to immigration in Victorian and Edwardian Britain, Ian casts a searing light on one of the most important and divisive issues of our times. This was the era when British views on immigrants crystallised and the first peacetime controls on immigration were imposed, leaving a legacy we’re still grappling with today.
Ian Hislop says: “It is fascinating to look back at the era of the first wave of mass immigration into the United Kingdom, when the attitudes that are so recognisable to us now were first formed and the familiar arguments about the issue were first aired. There is a wealth of forgotten history in this period with extraordinary stories of intolerance, compassion, idealism and compromise. The documentary covers Politics, the Press, Race, and Religion - and that is only in the first five minutes.”
Ian will reveal how attitudes to immigration divided Edwardian politicians, press and people in the fierce arguments that led to the 1905 and 1919 Aliens Acts - modern Britain’s first peacetime legislative attempts to restrict unwanted immigration - and how we’ve wrestled with them ever since.
Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop On The First Great Immigration Row (1x60) was commissioned by Patrick Holland and Tom McDonald and the Commissioning Editor is Abigail Priddle. It is being made by Wingspan Productions where the Executive Producers are Archie Baron and Deborah Lee.
Miriam’s Great American Adventure
The irrepressible Miriam Margolyes embarks on an epic trip through the heart of Middle America in this new three-part series for BBC One. Miriam is no stranger to America, having lived in LA for 16 years, and she saw it as a liberal, welcoming and classless country that she came to love. But then 2016 happened, leaving Miriam wondering if she really knew it at all.
Now she's going to journey nearly 1,000 miles from Chicago to New Orleans, immersing herself in communities along the way as she gets to know the people of middle America, whose voices are reshaping the nation.
Miriam says: "I am tremendously excited to be making this series for the BBC on an extraordinary journey of discovery in America at a unique time in its history.”
From the towering metropolis of Chicago to rural Ohio and the vibrant but deeply divided South, Miriam employs her warm and inimitable questioning style to get under the skin of the real America and challenge her - and our own - preconceptions of America.
Miriam’s Great American Adventure (3x60) was commissioned by Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries and is being made by Wild Pictures where the Executive Producers are Paul Hamann and Alicia Kerr.
The Real Marigold Hotel
Critically acclaimed and multi award-winning travel documentary The Real Marigold Hotel will be returning to BBC One for a new four-part series in 2018. A brand new line up of famous senior citizens will head off on an adventure of a lifetime to India, road-testing retirement in Udaipur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.
Spreading around the shores of the idyllic Lake Pichola with a backdrop of majestic green hills, Udaipur is known as one of India’s most romantic cities. With its ornate turrets, balconied palaces and whitewashed havelis clustered around the waters of the lake, it is a destination ripe for exploring in retirement.
The Real Marigold Hotel (4x60) was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director BBC Content, and Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries. It is a Twofour production where the Executive Producers are David Clews and Andrew MacKenzie. Ben Archard is the Series Producer and Claire Walls is the Series Editor.
