BBC2 to showcase British writers with 30 single films

Published Wednesday 12 April 2006 at 12:25 by Liz Thomas

The BBC is to develop 30 individual films for television authored by 30 of Britain’s best writing talent to be broadcast on BBC2.

Entitled Decades, it is being billed the Corporation’s most ambitious project to date, and is the brainchild of BBC2 controller Roly Keating and drama boss Jane Tranter.

Keating said: “Decades is the kind of rule-breaking broadcasting BBC2 was invented for - diverse, individualistic and wildly ambitious. It combines the impact of a great epic with the intimacy and variety that only single drama can bring. Within a broad guiding framework we’ll be giving the writers huge scope to capture a particular moment of history in the way that they choose. The plays will all be very different, but together I believe they will add up to a kind of alternative history of an entire generation.”

Decades will be a co-production with BBC Scotland, the executive producers are Anne Mensah and Sarah Brandist. Half of the films will be produced by in-house drama and the other 15 independently produced.

Jane Tranter, BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning adds: “Thirty single films, scripted by 30 of the best British writers - it will chart the last 35 years of our social, political and cultural history, providing an incredibly rich picture of our past through the individual voices of 30 British writers.

“This landmark project will be the boldest undertaking by BBC Drama. We are in discussion with a number of writers, and ideas are still being formulated, but the ambition at the heart of this project is to capture the essence of the last four decades which will resonant with our audience on a very personal level.”