What new delights do BBC3 have in store for its audience this autumn? Well, nothing that takes my fancy (beyond the new twentysomething comedy Him & Her starring Russell Tovey), but I'm no longer target demographic for the BBC's "youth channel". The BBC3 press release is below:
Thought-provoking factual and current affairs; innovative British drama; comedy talent at its best and new entertainment shows for young audiences
BBC Three's mission to engage younger audiences with bold, creative risk-taking and challenging programming continues this coming Autumn. BBC Three continues to do what no other digital channel does in reaching younger audiences with thought-provoking factual and current affairs; innovative British fiction; new, emerging comedy talent; and entertainment shows. The channel is now the most watched channel for 16-34 year olds for the hours it broadcasts and since its relaunch in February 2008 has grown by 29 per cent.
Danny Cohen, Controller BBC Three said: "It's been a great year so far for BBC Three with young audiences growing by a further 14 per cent. We hope to build on this across the Autumn with a rich range of thought-provoking Current Affairs and Factual, youthful drama, and energetic comedy and entertainment featuring young British talent."
BBC Three's commitment to hard-hitting factual and current affairs continues with a fresh range of programmes that shine a spotlight on the lives of young people around the world.
Brand new shows being announced today in factual and current affairs include:
Stacey Dooley, one of the stars of the hit BBC three series, Blood, Sweat And T-shirts, returns with two new moving and insightful documentaries exploring the issue of child exploitation. In Stacey Dooley Investigates – Kids With Guns, Stacey meets child soldiers in the Congo and hears their personal accounts of what life as a child soldier entailed.
In Child Sex Trafficking In Cambodia Stacey travels to Cambodia, where an estimated third of the country's 80,000 sex workers are under 18, to investigate under-age sex trafficking.
The Born Survivors season also returns with more hard-hitting, inspirational documentaries in which young people who live with serious issues reveal their strategies for survival. The films tell extraordinary stories of young people surviving whatever life throws at them, giving them a unique opportunity to talk candidly about their experiences and determination to change their lives.
Can't Bully Me follows four young people aged 12-14 as they endeavour to overcome the traumatic effects of bullying. They attend a network of specialised centres for children who've been so badly affected by their experiences that they can no longer attend mainstream school.
My Boyfriend The War Hero tells the story of Craig and Vicky. Eighteen-year-old Craig was hit by a roadside explosive. He lost both legs and an arm, becoming the youngest British serviceman to be injured in Afghanistan and one of only three British soldiers with a triple amputation to have survived his injuries.
Despite her youth, and the tremendous responsibility she's taking on, Vicky remains desperately in love with her fiancé and has made a commitment not just to share a home with him, but also eventually to marry him. The film follows Craig and Vicky in the first few months of their new life together as Craig copes with the consequences of his horrendous injuries and Vicky comes to terms with her decision to "stand by her man".
In Kara Tointon – Don't Call Me Stupid, actress Kara confronts the extent to which being dyslexic has affected her and realises how different her life could be when she compares how she lives and works, to her non-dyslexic EastEnders cast-mates, friends and family.
Kara, as part of the Born Survivors season, faces the truth about her dyslexia and embarks on a potentially life-changing programme as she sets out to improve her reading age to adult status and deal with the wider implications that the condition has had on her life.
In the inspiring documentary My Brother And Me, Jeff Brazier explores his relationship with his brother Spencer, who has cerebral palsy. It's a surprising and uplifting journey of two people finally learning how to understand and accept each other for who they are.
Spencer is 24. He has never had a job or a girlfriend and spends his days watching TV and playing computer games. Jeff believes that despite his disability Spencer is capable of living a much more active and fulfilling life. Now Jeff is planning to put his theories to the test.
Jeff and Spencer spend some serious time together while their mum (Spencer's full-time carer) gets away for a much-needed break, as Spencer moves in to Jeff's house in Essex. What Spencer doesn't know is the intense programme that Jeff's got in store for him. Jeff wants to push his brother to make some real changes in his life, but will Jeff's tough love prove too much for their already fragile relationship?
Jeff says: "Through embarking on this journey with Spencer I hope to provide the catalyst that will enable him to find himself, his courage and his confidence, break down the psychological restrictions he places on himself and for us to grow close once more after our 15 years of living with some distance between us."
Also announced in comedy:
BBC Three continues to give new writers and comedians their first break in TV. On the back of a hugely successful first series, Simon Brodkin returns with his critically acclaimed character Lee Nelson in Lee Nelson's Well Good Show. Nelsy gets in among the excitable studio audience, entertaining them with cheeky banter and all manner of daft games, ably assisted by his best mate, and "fat legend", Omelette.
Other Season Highlights:
Drama
Sex, lies and true love in modern Scotland. Lip Service is a seductive new relationship drama starring Laura Fraser, Ruta Gedmintas and Fiona Button following the lives of a group of 20-something friends.
Cat (Laura Fraser) is a self-assured architect, unnerved by the return of her former lover, Frankie (Ruta Gedmintas), a talented but emotionally reckless photographer who arrives back in Glasgow unannounced, bringing havoc in her wake. Fiona Button plays struggling actress Tess, Cat's best friend and flatmate who has an uncanny knack of falling for the wrong sorts of women.
This irreverent, sexy six-part series has been created by Harriet Braun (Mistresses, Attachments).
Comedy
Russell Tovey plays Steve, a laddish man with no desire to seek employment, in Stefan Golaszweski's hilarious and often shocking comedy about what really goes on behind the bedroom doors of today's twenty-somethings in Him And Her.
Dan Clark, comedian and writer, returns in the self-penned comedy, How Not To Live Your Life as desperate lothario Don who is still no wiser as to how to live his life.
And the channel welcomes home another favourite as Moz, Johnny Vegas, and Jenny, played by Sinead Matthews, return to Salford in Ideal after fleeing the UK to avoid a possible prison sentence. Ideal, now in its sixth series, is the channel's longest running comedy hit.
Entertainment
The Chief of Police has kicked the bucket, the President has been assassinated and the King is dead! So, who do you turn to? Each week on The King Is Dead a well-known public figure is hypothetically bumped off. It's down to the comedic interview panel, led by Simon Bird, to scour the Great British celebrity pool for a top-notch replacement. Three celebrities compete in this unique and vigorous interview process in a bid to prove they are the best applicant for the available job.
Factual
Following its success last year, The Adult Season returns to explore the pressures on young people to grow up quickly and what it means to be an adult. Leading the season of eight documentaries is a series of four films entitled My Mum And Me.
In Tulisa – My Mum And Me, Tulisa from chart-smashing N-Dubz heads ups this intimate and deeply personal authored single documentary. Tulisa's mother suffered from a schizo-affective disorder and she breaks the taboo to find out what life is like for other young Britons with a mentally ill mum or dad.
Being a teenager is tough, but for Jazz it's even harder, because she has an undiagnosed form of dwarfism and is smaller than an average seven-year-old. Small Teen, Big World tells the story of the close relationship between Jazz and her mum Bev, who has the same condition.
In the final film of the series, Glamour Models, Mum And Me gives a voice to a young girl, Georgia, whose unusual life is reaching a crossroads. Her mother is tabloid favourite Alicia Douvall. Should she pursue her mother's dreams of 21st-century tabloid celebrity or continue with her education?
The Adult Season also features a number of single documentaries: The Blind Me, from the producers of last year's acclaimed The Autistic Me, follows young blind people as they struggle to achieve the independent grown-up lives that others take for granted. Alice And Her Six Dads is a warm-hearted and emotional film, following 22-year-old Alice as she searches for her real dad.
During Alice's life there have been six different men that she's thought of as being her dad – some meant more to her than others. But there's one of these men Alice has no memory of – her biological dad. In this film Alice sets off on a journey to meet these different men from her childhood, and in the process work out what it really means to be a dad. And Alice has a big decision to make; she's recently got engaged, but which of her dads will walk her down the aisle?
Alongside these documentaries will be a range of new and returning series.
Following the success of last year's one-off documentary, Baby Beauty Queens returns as a six-part series diving into the world of the child beauty pageants where nine year olds get spray tans and diamante eyelashes are all the rage.
After a successful first series, Young, Dumb And Living Off Mum follows eight more inept and spoilt 17- to 23-year-olds as they leave their privileged pampered lives behind and attempt to grow up and sever the apron strings. From making their own beds to budgeting, they shoulder responsibility for the first time in their lives.
Also returning to the Adult Season is Underage And Pregnant – the candid programmes once again follow a mix of young mums, and some dads, with varied backgrounds as they come to terms with pregnancy, birth, and their new lives with a baby.
