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Documentaries on BBC Four

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Commissioning Editor: Charlotte Moore

Overview

Docs on BBC Four engage and entertaining curious minds with big ideas and debate - covering a really broad range of distinctive and mainstream subject matter from nostalgia to urgency but always with something to say: from Tweed and Perfume to the Golden Age of Canals, Tales from the National Park, Catholics and Sandhurst.

Docs output on BBC Four is characterised by tackling mainstream subjects and ideas in an imaginative, often counter intuitive way that offers a different perspective on a subject.

We're particularly looking for directors and presenters with a strong voice and a unique approach.

Cut through and impact in a digital landscape are absolutely vital to the channel, and we're looking to build in this area with a variety of eye-catching shapes and approaches. Seasons will remain a crucial part of building impact but how else can we bring people to the channel? What would BBC Four's live or stripped event look and feel like as an impact-led moment in the schedule?

What's been working well gallery

The unique mix of nostalgia and revelatory stories about our heritage and culture in Britain Goes Camping, The Golden Age of Canals, Apples: British to the Core, The Rise and Fall of the Great British Council House, Sandhurst, and The Documentary Film Mob.

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Richard Macer’s Tales from the National Park, Richard Alwyn’s series, Catholics, Marc Isaac's Outside the Courts, Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children and Morgan Matthew’s Scenes from a Teenage Killing, a hard-hitting and emotional film about knife crime.

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Documentaries - BBC Four - 3 or 4×60 series and one-offs to stand alone or as part of seasons

Contemporary society

Unique access to little explored British institutions that shed a light on the way we live now. Previous examples have included Perfume, Tweed, Catholics, Sandhurst and Agony & Ecstasy about the English National Ballet. Unique directorial voices in this established area on the channel have always been important and we need to keep things fresh. Forthcoming titles span a diverse range of subjects from Dave Nath's The Year the Town Hall Shrank to Brian Hill's Kids in the Middle.

We're also keen to consider courageous takes on radical, dangerous modern subjects that others dare not touch, such as Ben Anthony's film Sectioned, Penny Woolcock's On the Streets or Morgan Matthews's Scenes from a Teenage Killing, to make BBC Four feel alive and in touch.

Bold international ideas

This is also the only mainstream channel to regularly tell international stories regularly such as the recent Venice 24/7, Jerusalem on a Plate, African Railway, Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children and Murder on the Lake.

Contemporary history with dynamic propositions

Contemporary history with dynamic propositions are vital to BBC Four - the recent one-off film The Deadliest Crash: the Le Mans 1955 Disaster being a great example. They should use unique access to archive to reinterpret the recent past, always with a strong proposition/opinion/debate at its heart. Mud, Sweat and Tractors delivered a strong thesis about the effects of mechanisation both on farming, on those trying to make a livelihood from it and on the way we live today. Britain Goes Camping attracted a big audience through its unique mix of nostalgia and timeliness. Mental: A History of the Madhouse also worked well in this territory.

Well-known faces with unexpected passions

Well-known faces who can inspire and entertain with their warm, unexpected passions are great crowd-pleasers, as Timothy Spall did with Somewhere at Sea, Sean Langan did with African Railway, Paul Merton did with Hitchcock and Ian Hislop did with trains with Goes off the Rails.

What are the opportunities available?

In 2013/14 opportunities exist in the Wocc; some hours have a regional / Nations quota attached.

How should I submit my ideas and who should I pitch to?

All proposals should be submitted via the e-commissioning system to the relevant genre controller or commissioner. Take a look at the Who's Who for the latest documentaries commissioning team contacts.

Want to know more about the broader BBC Four service strategy?

If you would like to know more about Richard Klein's BBC Four channel strategy, please visit the BBC Four page.

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BBC - Commissioning - Documentaries on BBC Four