Docs on ONE should have broad mainstream appeal, entertaining and informing along the way. They should be modern, warm and accessible.
They should also be rooted in the present tense and the national mindset, telling the human stories behind the headlines.
Budget Information
- In 10/11 there are opportunities for this programming within the In-House guarantee, the WoCC and the Independent quota. Please note that a number of hours have a Nations and/or Regional quota attached.
- In 11/12 there are opportunities for this programming across all supply bases.
Entertaining celebrity/presenter-led journeys with purpose at 2100
Previous successes are Griff's Rivers, Joanna Lumley's Northern Lights or Stephen Fry's America.
We're actively looking for new faces and for format innovation - and will increasingly ask why the celeb is right for the journey and what the journey is trying to achieve.
Concept Driven Landmarks
Britain From Above was unique, entertaining and nationally relevant.
These ideas should feel like an event, creating impact both on the schedule and with a strong multiplatform element.
How else can we innovate beyond presenter/subject pairings - what broader concepts would fit this time?
Formatted Series at 2100
Issue driven formats about modern Britain. Famous, Rich and Homeless engaged a broad audience with a difficult subject matter through a compelling and entertaining format. The format was a very transparent one that enabled the participants to go on a genuine emotional journey - raising important issues in an authentic way.
What other formats can force the nation to make up their own minds about our biggest national issues?
Attention grabbing docs at 2235
Docs at 2235 should grab the attention with compelling stories and central characters.
At this time of night it's vital to engage the audience from start to finish: we want modern stories and discoveries that feel present tense, and reflect current issues and aspects of modern Britain we might know little about.
All ideas, whether popular or reputational need a clear sense of purpose. Eye catching titles are also key.
There are two ways in which we are looking to achieve this:
Reputational docs about real lives
Compelling documentaries about real people and real lives are key to building the reputation of documentary in the UK mainstream. Recent titles like Wounded, When a Mother's Love Is Not Enough and Marchioness: A Survivors Story have had a huge impact on the audience in different ways.
What are the extraordinary, important and emotional stories behind the headlines about individuals or groups of individuals?
Eye-catching, popular docs
Whether it's through incredible character-driven stories (Georgia: 33 Stone at 15) or around absolute topicality, where we hit the zeitgeist (Repossessed, Neighbourhood Watched, From Woolies to Wellies), these titles should have the potential to cut through and attract a big audience at this time of the evening.
How else can we make viewers sit up and take notice without resorting to voyeurism or freakishness?
The very best ideas for 2235 have the potential to run at 2100 - like Wounded and Woolies to Wellies.
ONE pre-watershed series
Shape
Beyond the brand of Traffic Cops and Motorway Cops, docusoaps have struggled in recent times on ONE, so we're looking to innovate in this area before the watershed with fresh subjects and approaches.
Requirements
The majority of recent factual successes before the watershed are very content rich with clear purpose, rather than being driven by quirky characters or presenters.
Which subjects will feel fresh on ONE and can supply a clear sense of drama to engage as an alternative to the soaps?
 Download the full list of BBC ONE requirements [PDF, 17 Kb]
Documentaries on BBC Two
TWO is the home of Documentary at the BBC - so we're really keen to see the best, most innovative treatments of important 'now' subjects and people. Being the home of documentary means that diversity of shapes, approaches, tones and voices is absolutely key.
In particular, we're looking to strengthen our reputational docs about modern life. These one offs and series should simultaneously inspire and challenge viewers to reappraise their view on modern life and society.
Budget information
- In 10/11 there are opportunities for this programming within the In-House guarantee, the Independent quota and the WoCC. There is particular space in the Nations and Regions quota.
- In 11/12 there are opportunities for this programming across all supply bases.
Formatted docs series for a broad audience
Shape
Series, flexible in terms of shape.
Requirement
Successful formatted docs on TWO are redemptive, inspiring and purposeful, exploring better ways to live our lives. All ideas need a clear proposition and sense of purpose. Formats should have something important to say or explore at their heart and the experience has to feel real and meaningful for the people involved.
We are delighted with narrative-driven series like Victorian Farm, Tribal Wives and The Choir that engage big audiences with high quality, distinctive output. Crucially, these series keep audiences coming back week after week.
In particular, we're looking for a younger skewing series which might be tougher and/or more contemporary.
Personal celebrity-led stories
Shape
One and two-parters.
Requirement
Truly interesting celebrities with a story to tell, a personal passion or experience to share continue to draw audiences. However, this is an established form now, so uniqueness of talent, subject or preferably both, is key.
Terry Pratchett: Living with Alzheimers followed the very personal journey of a man many people want to know more about, who hasn't been over-exposed, talking about a subject that affects millions.
Immersive, presenter-led experiences
Shape
Series, flexible as to shape.
Requirement
Experiential and not thesis driven, Louis Theroux, Monty Halls, Kate Humble, Charley Boorman and Bruce Parry all find very different ways of exploring a world that, distant or not, feels relevant to our own lives. Who else can take us on journeys of discovery or lead us into new subjects?
Travel has been key to these programmes and we're keen to keep evolving how these programmes work. What's the next distinctive step in travel and exploration?
Kate Humble's journey along the ancient Frankincense Trail was a tremendous success and we're particularly interested in more female and more diverse talent to add to the mix.
Modern, relevant and reputational series
Shape
Series and one offs, of varied shapes.
Requirement
As the home of docs our output on TWO needs more ideas that push the boundaries in order to bring home piercingly relevant subject matter. Though ideas on TWO don't need to be driven by current headlines, they should illuminate and question key touchstones of modern life.
We want more high-end modern documentary of all forms which combine innovative ideas with great storytelling and a clear sense of purpose and proposition.
These ideas need a sense of immediacy and the ability to appeal to younger, more diverse audiences. Anatomy of a Crime did this on TWO, World's Strictest Parents did it on BBC THREE as did The Hospital on C4.
A range of flavours is important too - upcoming ideas include a compelling three part series that explores life in Lagos, one of the most extreme urban environments on the planet, unique access to John Lewis, one of Britain's biggest department stores, and unprecedented access to the normally closed world of medical decision-making at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Striking single docs
Wonderland is the home for witty and relevant documentary on TWO and is now open to singles ideas from independents. Wonderland docs bring original, unexpected perspectives to everyday life, often with humour and always with ultimate relevance to the viewer - Britain in Bed did this recently. Nick Mirsky is the Commissioning Editor.
Aside from the lighter offerings there is room for harder singles to help emphasise our more modern DNA - driven by stories and ideas that generate penetrative new insights about modern life.
Gripping storytelling is absolutely crucial. Trouble in Amish Paradise, The Fallen, Rain In My Heart and The Trouble With Girls are great examples of past successes in this area.
In both cases, it's important to realise that one offs are easily missed in the modern TV landscape, we need to help viewers find our work and engage with it quickly - so subject matter and title must feel relevant and intriguing.
In some cases, these will TX as part of a season.
Drama Docs
Key to bringing broad audiences to factual content, drama docs are a unique flavour on TWO. Covering iconic people (like Best: A Mother's Son or Maxwell) and extraordinary stories (like The Thieving Headmistress or The Antiques Rogue Show).
Which narratives simply demand to be brought to life and provide the opportunity to engage broad audiences with related documentary programming?
Download the full list of BBC TWO requirements [PDF, 20 Kb]
Documentaries on BBC Three
Docs on THREE engage with subjects and issues that matter to a young but broad BBC3 audience.
Think both about the most important issues for a young adult audience (16-24 at its core and 16-34 at its broadest), and about their perspective on the issues that affect us all.
On one side of our slate, the stories are compelling and often intimate - the extraordinary personal stories of ordinary people.
On the other, this is THE place for docs to be entertaining, bold and upfront in style and tone to break through to future docs audiences.
Whatever the idea, a punchy title that will capture the attention on the EPG is crucial.
Budget Information
- Opportunities in 2010/11 in the In house guarantee, the Independent quota and the WoCC. Please note that a number of hours have a Nations and/or a Regional quota attached.
Presenter-led popular docs
Shape
Series and one-offs.
Requirement
Celebrity journeys
We're still looking for fresh celebrity faces with warm and authentic stories that we can experience with them. The subject matter should touch the lives of a broad young audience. Alesha: Look Don't Touch, Kirsten goes Topless, Claire Richards: My Big Fat Wedding have all delivered for the channel in spades.
Presenter-led series
We're also still on the lookout for a new face to present cheeky, provocative authored docs series like Britain's Really Disgusting Food or Who Made Me Fat? Who's the new Alex Riley or Dawn Porter for the channel?
One-offs will generally be commissioned as part of a season.
Documentary singles and series
Shape
Singles as part of seasons and series.
Requirement
THREE continually succeeds with honest, redemptive stories about ordinary individuals living extraordinary young adult lives. Kizzy: Sex, Prams and Exams, Baby Beauty Queens and Autistic Me are great examples of this. Think about two things.
- What are the urgent issues for young people?
- Have we found a fresh way of approaching them and a unique personal story?
These stories can be also grouped as part of series - Underage and Pregnant did fantastically well on the channel with beautifully told self contained half hours grouped around a heartland theme for this audience. My Big Decision also found lightly formatted ways to heighten the journeys of the contributors and to cover a range of heartland subjects for this audience within a series.
They might be driven by the relevant, grittier issues and institutions, or by a more aspirational universe that has dramas of its own.
Fresh
BBC THREE is committed to new talent on-screen and off, and the Fresh initiative commissions six 60-minute films a year from the next generation of documentary film makers.
Original Formats
Shape
This kind of programming is driven by originality, so we're flexible here.
Requirement
Provocative formats and social experiments are big brand building properties for the channel.
Mischief, humour, and challenge are critical - with plenty of opportunity for ob-docs content. This audience get lots of entertainment from people-watching but the best ideas also challenge the way young people live their lives. Think about the central question at the core of any proposition. What is the purpose? If the purpose is clear, ideas can be highly provocative.
Download the full list of BBC THREE requirements [PDF, 18 Kb]
Documentaries on BBC Four
Docs on FOUR engage and entertaining curious minds with big ideas and debate - covering a really broad range of distinctive and mainstream subject matter: from tweed to Japan, from farming and grandparents to knife crime, from nostalgia to urgency.
In particular, output on FOUR is characterised by tackling these subjects and ideas in a imaginative, often counter intuitive way that offers a different perspectives on a subject.
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?
Budget Information
- There are opportunities available in the WoCC and limited opportunities in the in-house guarantee for 10/11. A significant number of hours have regional quotas attached.
3 or 4 × 60' series, and one-offs as part of seasons
Shape
We're looking for 3 or 4 × 60 series, and one-offs as part of seasons.
Requirement
Event-led ideas
In our search for impact we're looking at event ideas to punch through the schedule and demand the attention of a wider spectrum of viewer. Electric Dreams is a great recent example. We are also thinking about live ideas as part of this. Whatever it is, it should feel like a completely unique TV experience.
Celebrities
Celebrities who can inspire and entertain with their warm, unexpected passions are important to the channel, as Paul Merton did with Hitchcock and Ian Hislop did with trains. Crucially, these should have the ability to stand out on the EPG and create impact for the channel.
Contemporary History
Contemporary history with dynamic propositions are vital to FOUR. Rather than exploring an area, we want docs to really say something about them. 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.
Contemporary Society
Unique access to little-explored British institutions that shed a light on the way we live now. Previous examples have included Saville Row, the Women's Institute and Wine and upcoming is Museums. Unique directorial voices in this established area on the channel have always been important and we need to keep things fresh.
Bold international ideas
This is also the only mainstream channel to tell international stories regularly. As well as their exploration of another culture, titles like Love and Hate in Japan and Fish! were rewarded by the audience for being modern and innovative. Where next for international docs outside the Storyville strand (commissioning editor Nick Fraser)?
Passionate Provocation
We're also keen to consider courageous takes on radical, dangerous modern subjects that others dare not touch - this includes shapes that shake up the schedule to give the channel vigour and attitude.
Download the full list of BBC FOUR requirements [PDF, 22 Kb]
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