Thursday, 7 January 2010

BBC Three re-open "pilot season"

Thursday, 7 January 2010
Remember when BBC Three aired a season of pilots, then commissioned the most popular to full series? It was how we got the excellent Being Human, and how we (nearly) got the execrable Phoo Action. Well, they're bringing back their comedy-drama pilot season for another search, although controller Danny Cohen has only ordered three pilots, with the intention to take only one to full series...

Those pilots are: Dappers, a half-hour written by Catherine Johnson (Mamma Mia!) about two young mums living in housing association flats built in an affluent area of Bristol; Pulse, an hour-long horror-drama written by Paul Cornell (Doctor Who), about a teaching hospital that's home to a secret network of dangerous experiments, starring Claire Foy (Little Dorrit) and Stephen Campbell Moore (Ashes To Ashes); and Stanley Park, an adaptation of playwright Leo Richardson's stage play about a group of friends growing up in a south London suburb.

Incidentally, Being Human has already been picked up for a third series, but the show will move from Bristol to Wales, because that's where producers Touchpaper Television are now based.