Speech by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning

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Thank you, Tony.

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming.

Returning to the BBC after five years away, I’ve been struck by how much things have changed.

As Tony mentioned, Charlotte and the team have made BBC Drama the home of creative risk and challenged conventional wisdom on what popular drama is. The BBC has had some of its biggest drama hits with titles like The Missing, Doctor Foster and Happy Valley - genre-busting shows that have flown in the face of what an algorithmic, data driven approach to commissioning might have deemed a hit to be.

Let me say straight away that I want BBC Drama to be the antithesis of all that represents - the "if you liked that, watch this" school of programming. In a world where there is just so much content and it can feel like your taste is being curated for you, it’s never been more important for BBC Drama to deliver the unexpected and for us to be clear and strong on what sets us apart.

In this respect, I want to rip up the rulebook on how we approach new ideas by being less bound by conventions of genre, slot and channel when considering new work. The portfolio of channels, the way that they relate to each other and the rise of iPlayer gives us unprecedented creative freedom to experiment with the innovative and bold. The original and unexpected has never had a better chance to connect with hearts and minds.

We know that the biggest risks deliver the biggest hits and in a landscape which is so fast-changing, ideas need to be ahead of the curve. And that means giving ourselves maximum creative headroom to allow them to develop and grow.

The Oscars this year felt like a real moment for showing how stories from the margins can connect with a mainstream audience. Moonlight, La La Land and Manchester By The Sea all defied the classic Hollywood archetypes to become box office success stories. Only by thinking outside the usual parameters will we discover the next generation of stand-out shows.

The new perspective, the iconic character, the emotional heart of a story, is the future.

It’s all about the idea, not the box we put it in.

Britishness

I also want a strong streak of Britishness to run through the centre of everything we do. It gives us distinctiveness in a crowded landscape and a strong identity internationally. I think that it’s the individuality, chutzpah, determined vision and tireless curiosity at the heart of Britain’s creative community which has played a huge part in turning drama from the UK into such a valuable cultural export and so I’d like the next five years of drama from the BBC to be a celebration of British authorship, identity and life in all its most diverse forms.

Tonight, I want to talk a little about what that means – for BBC drama as a whole and for each of our channels. I’d also like to talk about how we’re going to do it and the changes I’m making to my team.

But first I’d like to introduce you to some of the newest work to come out of the department, how that demonstrates that the widening scope of BBC drama and the spirit with which we are approaching the journey ahead:

[SHOWREEL]

Watching these shows as they emerge, it’s awesome to observe the scope and ambition of the storytelling on BBC One. But with that sort of momentum already in place, how can we push genre even further so that it continues to feel as strong and surprising?

Two new series I am announcing this evening really do that. Both tell gripping crime stories while offering up unique cultural perspectives on to contemporary British life.

Giri/Haji is a brilliant original idea from Joe Barton which tells the story of Kenzo a middle-aged Japanese cop who travels to London in search of his wayward younger brother who is under suspicion of a Yakuza killing. A sort of Lost In Translation in reverse, it is as much the story of a middle aged man trying to make sense of a world alien to him as it is dark gangland thriller.

While Informer by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, both new writers for TV, tells the story of Raza, a young second generation Pakistani man from East London who is coerced into counter-terrorism. This is not a story about radicalisation, it subverts that very idea by placing ordinary lives at the heart of a story about a terrorist plot.

And of course genre can mean many things - not just crime. I’d like to announce two new adaptations. The War Of The Worlds, a sci-fi thriller adapted by Peter Harness. It really gets under the skin of how it would have felt if hostile aliens had landed in Victorian London. And Black Narcissus, adapted by Amanda Coe, a psychological thriller set in 1930s Nepal about an order of nuns sent on a mission to a disused monastery. (Nuns on horseback in Nepal, what’s not to like?)

We will continue to explore new worlds through classic adaptation as well. I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that Vikram Seth’s epic novel A Suitable Boy set in India in the 1950s will be adapted for the very first time by Andrew Davies. And that the wonderful Heidi Thomas is completing a new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. A celebration of family, charity, piety and friendship. It’s America - but back in the day.

I’d like to see more factual drama on BBC One - both historical and present day - it’s a key way for us to explore and export Britishness. On that point, I am announcing A Very English Scandal, the Jeremy Thorpe story for BBC One, based on the closely researched work of journalist John Preston, dramatized by Russell T Davies and directed by Stephen Frears. This shocking and true story is about the first British politician to stand trial for conspiracy and incitement to murder. And it’s every bit as forensic, uncompromising and outrageous as you’d hope it would be.

In a world increasingly dominated by big budgets and recognisable IP, Real Life stands out as a genre all of its own. Jimmy McGovern evokes it with real tenderness and beauty in in Broken.

Also in this vein is Come Home, Danny Brocklehurst’s raw and real family drama for BBC One. Danny’s series is a tense, compelling, characterful and authentic exploration of a bitter custody battle - the messy realities of parenthood, marriage, and what happens when a mother switches the reset button on their life. I’m also announcing The Wilsons, written by Anna Symon and inspired by the extraordinary life of Ruth Wilson’s grandmother who on her husband’s death discovered that hers was not his only family... Ruth will play her own grandmother in this three-part drama set midway through the last century in London and India.

If that’s the direction of travel on BBC One, I want to start looking at how we can reboot drama on BBC Two. Five years ago, Line Of Duty was about to launch. Now it has a massive following on BBC One and the new Saturday night slot means that BBC One is able to be a home to extraordinary series like Taboo.

That means BBC Two needs to feel like the committed home of the most cutting edge storytelling by going further and going deeper with some stand out signature pieces from visionary film-makers which are less concerned with genre. On this note it’s my great pleasure to announce Summer Of Rockets from Stephen Poliakoff, inspired by the story of Stephen’s own family and set in the explosive tumultuous year of 1957, the year of the H-bomb and the first satellite in space.

We’d like to continue to work with the most singular writers and film-makers on BBC Two to reflect British life in a way which is relevant, clever and at times avant-garde. King Charles III is the perfect example of this. The People Vs OJ also really lingers in the mind. Both shows tell bold real world stories but with a smart, vivid and utterly original tone of voice.

Jane Campion’s Top Of The Lake and Sir David Hare’s Collateral stretch genre beyond recognition to give soulful but powerful reflections on the contemporary world and of course this is the sort of work we want to continue to support. In addition, we’d like there to be more close-ended narratives on BBC Two and to use drama to help build a sense of noise, wit, currency and event.

Drama on BBC Three is also all about noise. It’s about new ambition too.

We want to think bigger… To offer this audience more substantial pieces and supersize their expectations of what they’re going to get. There will be more room for sophisticated programmes that connect uniquely with our audiences - like Clique and Thirteen. And more room for drama that plays with form and deals with real issues. Following Idris Elba’s shorts five by five, I’m announcing a new BBC Three series on anorexia, based Eva O’Connor award winning play Overshadowed. The shorts will be written by television newcomers Eva O’Connor and Hildegard Ryan.

I’d like us to explore further the relationship between BBC Three and BBC One. Wouldn’t it be great to create a summer blockbuster for primetime BBC One that a young audience can feel ownership of but which will feel equally right at home when it gets its global premiere on BBC Three?

So that’s the what. But what about the how?

Clearly the biggest challenge we face is with writers and the extraordinary demands which are being placed on their time. With this in mind, I want to boost our initiatives supporting new writing. This is an ongoing commitment clearly but Charlotte and I are pledging to commission three new single dramas to play across the portfolio and we will take positive action to ensure that BAME writers and those with disability feature strongly in those commissions. We are exploring a new way of working with the National Theatre Studio to forge stronger links between our two institutions. Anne Edyvean who has been doing fantastic work in the Nations with BBC Writersroom, will now be spending more time in Drama so that she can feed that talent through to all of us.

I can take very little credit indeed, alright NONE, for the very brilliant reel which you saw earlier. That is largely all down to the amazing team who managed the department during the interim. I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Charlotte, Lucy, Liz and Chris Aird. I’m delighted that Chris is joining the department permanently and to announce that from tonight Lucy and Liz become Senior Commissioning Editors in the team.

We said we were going to crew up in the Nations and that’s reflected in the shape of the new team elsewhere. Liz Kilgariff is going to add Scotland to her existing brief to fast-track new series to shoot there. She will be working with Gaynor Holmes as Commissioning Executive based in Glasgow. Tommy Bulfin joins as Commissioning Editor for Northern Ireland from New Pictures. And Chris Aird becomes Commissioning Editor for Wales and Continuing Drama.

I’ve already said that I’d like us to be running a leaner, more focussed development slate. But one where there is still space for plurality and adventurous taste. Two new appointments are key to that. Mona Qureshi joins from The Ink Factory as Commissioning Editor, England and Ben Irving previously a development executive at Hey Day joins as Head of Development. They are all clever, creative people. Please make them your friends.

Earlier, I said I wanted the next five years to be a celebration of Britishness. That’s not a choice. That’s a passion driven by the creativity of the people in this room. So please join me and the new team in helping keep the B in BBC.

Related Media Centre Links

• Controller of BBC Drama Piers Wenger announces his new commissioning team and new writer initiatives
• Controller of BBC Drama Piers Wenger announces raft of new commissions