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MUMBAI:
BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson has set sights on making
BBC the hallmark of quality drama and the automatic home for
the best talent in the world.
Speaking
at an event for writers, actors, industry and press in the
UK, Stephenson said that BBC and drama are inseparable. "It
is written through the BBC like a stick of rock. No other
broadcaster in the world has drama so firmly in its DNA.”
Setting
out his vision for the genre and looking forward to new horizons,
Stephenson's aim is to build a BBC drama department that has
an enormous international reputation. "That means making
us more British than ever - it is about applying the Danny
Boyle vision to our work - a bold, adventurous, authorial
approach that exports because of its Britishness not despite
it. A BBC that feels inspiringly creative - where there is
a buzz and creativity and anything goes optimism.”
He
signalled the dawning of a new era of ambition with the arrival
of a new DG. “Lord Hall and I have had early talks about
the BBC as a cultural organisation with an international reputation,
one to make us proud and that strengthens our creative muscles.
I want to make BBC drama a cultural institution – a touchstone
for quality and modernity with all the excitement and glamour
of a curtain going up."
Stephenson
announced a range of new commissions. One of them is ‘Atlantis’.
The city of Atlantis is a mysterious, ancient place; a world
of bull leaping, of snake haired goddesses and of palaces
so vast it was said they were built by giants.
It’s
into this realm that the young Jason arrives and an amazing
adventure begins, bringing to life the vast store of Greek
myths and legends re-imagined for a new generation in the
13-part series.
The
shooting for this series will begin in Wales and Morocco in
April.
‘Death
Comes To Pemberley’ is another show lined up for launch.
Adapted from P.D James' novel in this 200th anniversary year
of the first publication of 'Pride & Prejudice', P.D James'
homage to Austen brings the world to life. Set six years after
'Pride & Prejudice' ends and centering on Austen's best-known
characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, the three-parter
combines classic period drama with a highly suspenseful and
brilliantly crafted murder mystery plot.
‘The
Interceptor’ is an eight-part series about a top secret,
state of the art law enforcement team whose unswerving mission
is to hunt down some of Britain’s most dangerous and
ruthless criminals. ‘Jamaica Inn is a new adaptation
of the classic Daphne du Maurier novel, set in 1820 against
the foreboding backdrop of windswept Cornish moors, this highly
charged, gothic romance follows young Mary Yellan as she becomes
entangled in a dangerous criminal world ridden with smuggling
and murder, testing her resolve and morality to the very core.
For
BBC Four, there is ‘Burton And Taylor’ which is
about volatile ex-lovers in the story of their ill-fated appearance
in a 1983 revival of Noel Coward's stage play, Private Lives.
‘Burton and Taylor’ is a drama about one of the
most fascinating, glamorous and tempestuous relationships
of the 20th century, that of Richard Burton and Elizabeth
Taylor, the two most famous movie stars of their day who played
out every high and low of their love affair, their marriages
and divorces right in the public eye.
Also
as part of the BBC's blockbuster celebrations to mark the
Doctor turning 50, fans will be able to see ‘Doctor Who’
in 3D! To be broadcast using some of the BBC’s HD capacity,
the show’s lead writer and executive producer Steven
Moffat said, “It's about time. Technology has finally
caught up with Doctor Who and your television is now bigger
on the inside. A whole new dimension of adventure for the
Doctor to explore.
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