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BBC One

Controller: Danny Cohen

 

"BBC One should be the most creatively ambitious channel in the world. It must be distinctive, brave, confident and original"

 

Aims

BBC One is the UK’s most popular channel.  It must continue to be competitive, high-impact, and distinguished by quality. The channel should showcase Britain's best talent and the nation's most talked-about and loved programmes.

BBC One’s relationship with its audience is one that has been nurtured over many decades.  The channel has history and heritage with a unique ability to bring the nation together - it is the home of the events that matter most to the British people. We want to continue to reach all parts of the UK and make the nation feel proud of the BBC.

Our vision for BBC One is to become more distinctive, diverse and ambitious whilst proudly fulfilling the BBC’s founding values: to inform, educate and entertain.

Programme Aspirations for BBC One

BBC One is about aiming for the very best in production values, story-telling and talent in all genres. We want a rich-mix of programmes with scale and ambition that will appeal across the range to everyone in the UK.

Drama

Sherlock – This ambitious reworking of a classic became one of the drama sensations of the year.

 

BBC One drama is distinctive and ambitious with challenging pieces such as the award-winning Five Daughters and The Silence to top-rating soaps Eastenders and Waterloo Road. Silent Witness and Luther drew in large heartland audiences whilst Merlin and Dr Who successfully reached out to families, and Sherlock and Hustle appealed to younger viewers.

We are looking for returning series and serials that offer range and distinctiveness for broad audiences. Although crime is important, we want to broaden out and reflect other territories, other worlds. Alongside high-concept drama we need story-telling that takes us into the lives of people from different backgrounds in the UK.  

Entertainment

With a new look and revitalised format, the last series of BBC One Entertainment show, Strictly Come Dancing, was extremely successful.

 

Entertainment is crucial to BBC One. We’re looking for high-end Saturday night studio formats in the vein of the ever-popular Strictly Come Dancing. We need to find new panel shows and high-energy tea-time family entertainment formats. We’re also looking to expand our factual-entertainment offering building on the successes of  The Apprentice and Masterchef.

Comedy-entertainment formats such as Live At The Apollo and John Bishop’s Britain have an important role in the BBC One story.  Regardless of slot, we want to see the best ideas for original and ‘must see’ entertainment. 

Comedy

BBC One is not afraid of taking risks. The highly original Come Fly with Me was the most successful comedy launch on BBC One for many years.

 

Comedy remains a priority for BBC One – it is important that the channel feels warm and full of laughter. Come Fly with Me was the outstanding comedy hit of 2010, while Mrs Brown's Boys brought a new comic talent and style to the channel. We will continue to look for strong narrative comedy that is rooted in different worlds and experiences.  We’re also interested in new studio sitcom ideas with broad appeal that bring fresh ideas and the funniest talent to our audience. 

Specialist Factual

Innovative story-telling and creative camera techniques ensured Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice became true ‘talk-about’ TV.

 

BBC One offers a broad range of content within factual programming - from history and religion to science and the arts – and we will continue to do so. Alongside the innovative Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice and the original Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds we had an ambitious immersive history format Turn Back Time as well as The Young Ones a science series with warmth and humour. We will continue to search for specialist factual series that will surprise, delight and engage broad audiences.

Documentaries

BBC One brought the complexities of employment and the migrant workforce to a broad heartland audience with The Day the Immigrants Left.

 

There is a strong tradition of compelling documentary story-telling on BBC One ranging from softer formats to spiky one-off pieces. Famous, Rich and in the Slums was a sophisticated, thought-provoking series that allowed a broad UK audience to empathise with dignified families in the developing world and their struggle for survival.

Between Life And Death followed three families as they made the ultimate decision about whether to switch off their loved-one’s life support machine. We’re looking for compelling landmark 9pm series, engaging observational documentary ideas, and stand-out stories for our 10.35pm slot

Features

The Great British Waste Menu was an entertaining, compelling show that also had a powerful sense of purpose.

 

Features are an important way of engaging and inspiring broad audiences. Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention appealed to viewers across the demographic whilst Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers was accessible, content-rich and entertaining.  We are looking for new magazine shows that explore territories that matter to people.  We also want ideas for series that would work at 7.30pm as well as ambitious, must-see factual formats that will get the nation talking.

Current Affairs

Panorama’s Kids in Care was a moving account of the issues faced by young people who were the victims of social breakdown.

 

BBC One brings current affairs to a primetime audience with Panorama on a Monday night featuring hard-hitting investigations such as FIFA’s Dirty Secrets.  We also have a number of hour-long current affairs specials under the Panorama brand ranging from Forgotten Heroes to Kids in Care. We are looking for high impact investigations that matter to people for both the Monday night strand and the hour-long specials.

We will continue to innovate in popular current affairs and empowering consumer journalism whether it’s in the form of one-off documentaries, in standalone series, under the Panorama umbrella or in strands such as The One Show.

The Tone of The Channel

The ever popular One Show taps into the national conversation and truly reflects the whole of the UK. 

 

BBC ONE is at the heart of the UK, engaging the whole country with programmes that reflect their lives and make sense of their world. It's a channel that our audience grew up with, put simply it is the BBC to most people. They trust it and they are proud of it. So our tone should display authority and inspire confidence. But it should also crackle with the energy of a nation living and breathing our channel and our shows.

Watching great TV is a social event and our tone of voice should share that experience with our audiences. It's not them and us. We're all in it, enjoying it, together. BBC One also has more live TV than any other channel too. It should always feel like it's on the pulse, reflecting the national conversation and continually innovating to surprise and delight our heartland whilst reaching out to new audiences.

Our Audience

BBC One is the shop window for the BBC and must appeal to a broad mainstream audience.
However, BBC One also needs to provide much-loved programmes for everyone in the UK, so it is important that the channel finds high impact programmes that appeal across the board.
In an environment where audiences are fragmenting, BBC One is the place where people can come together to share great TV moments – uniting audiences across all ages.

 

Want to know more about BBC One?

If you would like to know more about BBC One programmes, content and schedules, please visit the BBC One channel website.