The Stage

Innovative drama and ‘passionate’ programming, promises BBC4

Published Wednesday 25 January 2006 at 17:55 by Liz Thomas

BBC4 controller Janice Hadlow has pledged that there will be more innovative drama on the channel, billing it as the home for “passionate” programme-makers.

She unveiled an ambitious season, which includes The Chatterley Affair by Andrew Davies, a remake of science fiction classic A for Andromeda, starring Kelly Reilly and Tom Hardy, a new comedy by Jack Dee and a look at the heyday of silent film by Paul Merton.

Hadlow said: “We have been able to get big names and big talent because people are passionate about the programmes we make. It is because we can say, ‘come here and do things you care about’.”

Davies, who is best known for adapting period dramas such as Pride and Prejudice and Bleak House for the small screen, said his latest fictional piece is based on the prosecution of Penguin Books’ for obscenity in 1960, following its publication of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The drama centres around two of the jurors, who fall in love during the trial.

She added that executives were continuing to talk seriously about extending the programme hours of the channel, which currently starts at 7pm and ends at 3am. She explained: “I really think there is an audience, within the BBC4 demographic, who are at home during the day and are looking for something they are interested in.”

Hadlow said that innovative drama based on real life stories was moving to the heart of the schedule in the coming months, pointing to Fantabulosa!, a piece based on Kenneth Williams memoirs, and The Lavender List, a dramatisation of the last days of Harold Wilson’s Labour government and the controversy surrounding his resignation honours list.

The digital channel has an annual budget of £40 million, compared to £97 million for BBC3 and £33 million for Channel 4’s sister station More4.