BBC Three

RIP Aardman blobs - revamp soon

http://images.digitalspy.co.uk/08/04/160x120_bbc_bbcthree.jpg

BBC Three controller Danny Cohen has unveiled a new look and new multi-platform focus for the channel.

All programmes on the channel will be simulcast on digital TV and the web starting in February. User generated content will be regularly scheduled in peak and interactive ideas will be placed "at the heart of programmes".

Cohen said: "I'm delighted to announce BBC Three's fantastic line-up of new programmes, along with our innovative and exciting approach to television for young audiences. BBC Three is aiming to become Britain's most ambitious multi-platform network – combining television and the web into a single, integrated offering.

"At BBC Three we should be known for pioneering risk, and be obsessed with all things new – new talent, new programmes, and a new relationship between television and the internet."

> Click here for a preview of BBC Three's new idents

The channel's new schedule will revolve around single dramas, live entertainment and factual output.

Four single dramas will air in the Spring: Phoo Action, described as a futuristic, kung fu, live action drama; The Things I Haven't Told You, a dark thriller set in the sixth form; Being Human, a tale about a vampire, werewolf and ghost who share a house; and Mrs In-Betweeny, billed as a "dark comic look at modern British family life" featuring a long-lost uncle who returns as a pre-op transsexual named Emma.

Of the four, one will go on to become a series for the following year.

Other drama series to air on the channel include Greek, imported from ABC Family, and Heroes' second season.

In entertainment, the channel's key output includes the previously-announced Lily Allen and Friends, which stars Lily Allen as the host of a social networking-based chat show, The Wall, in which emerging talent will be given a showcase opportunity on TV and the web, and Upstaged, which will develop on the web before its BBC Three outings later in the season.

In news, BBC Three's signature 60seconds bulletins will undergo a "total revamp", including the launch of a nightly World News programme looking at global events through the output of other news channels from around the world. Environmental issues will be frequently featured and special bulletins focusing on specific subjects including technology and sport will be scheduled.

Factual output will include Pramface Mansion, which looks at the demands of being a single parent, and Jack's Story, which will take "an intimate look at the lives of brave young men fighting in Afghanistan".

still steering clear of popular music then?

aw the blobs were cuet

(scans press release for Lo Slung Denim credits)

Pramface Mansion?

BBC4 has a fair amount of popular music on it.

yeh too bad it's all from 30 years ago.

stars Lily Allen as the host of a social networking-based chat show

Four single dramas will air in the Spring: Phoo Action, described as a futuristic, kung fu, live action drama; The Things I Haven't Told You, a dark thriller set in the sixth form; Being Human, a tale about a vampire, werewolf and ghost who share a house; and Mrs In-Betweeny, billed as a "dark comic look at modern British family life" featuring a long-lost uncle who returns as a pre-op transsexual named Emma.

Monkey Tennis?

Mrs In-Betweeny, billed as a "dark comic look at modern British family life" featuring a long-lost uncle who returns as a pre-op transsexual named Emma.

We should make up bingo cards for this show, you cross off the box whenever Julia Davis, Mark Heap, or Stephen Mangam appears on screen.

Being Human anyone? Vampires/Werewolves/I-See-Dead-People show set in Bristol - surprisingly t'was not utter shite.

I liked it - partly for location-spotting reasons. Overall, though, it was rather good. We were a bit puzzled by some of the mechanics of it: how can the ghost pick *some* things up? How can some people see her when they couldn't originally? Maybe these things were covered in the pilot; but it's not really Good Form to rely on the pilot explaining plot points like that.

Yeah, I didn't get that either. Nor how the ghost could interact with the pizza boy (who was, incidentally, played by one of my oldest friends) but not anyone else.

Other than that I was rather impressed.

We did wonder if the link was: people who never knew her before she died can see her, but not those who did - hence why her fiance's new partner was someone she'd known in the past too. And at least the characters did seem puzzled on that point also.

That link: "And a little bit of map-research and field-walking will take us right to it"

Yeah and the street sign's in the trailer, I noticed it first time I saw it because I thought it was our road.

Is it? I didn't make it out. It was visible in the show itself, though.

how can the ghost pick *some* things up? How can some people see her when they couldn't originally?

Russell Tovey was on 5Live earlier and explained this, or tried to. Apparently the more comfortable/happier she is with herself, the more 'solid' she becomes. The more unhappy or stressed she is, the more ghostlike. Or something like that anyway. It wasn't made clear in the programme though.
It was okay. Tovey was the best thing in it, and I would've preferred Andrea Riseborough to have also returned as the ghost.
Glad they made this in the end and not Phoo Action, anyway.

I really enjoyed that, good balance between the undead stuff and the twentysomething soap stuff, and I instantly warmed to all the characters. Glad they didn't waste any time with scene-setting as well.

It was good. I think they're going for the slow unfurling with Annie, and they're doing a decent wee job of it.

God the girl playing Lauren in Being Human is the single most smashable person on British TV right now.

Yes!

Unless you are a girl, in which case, substitute "the guy playing Mitchell"

Lauren is v.v. pretty. And I am being all heterosexual in my assumptions there.

Best episode yet as well - it's obviously building towards some really bad shit but all the characters are very watchable.

Best episode yet, definitely. It has to start building up to the bad shit now, because there's only two more episodes left; there needs to be a doomtastic cliffhanger next week.

We were cringing and could barely look when the kid started playing the DVD. The most chilling moment: his "I'm hungry" while waiting for the train at the end.

Yes, that was excellent tonight. It's been really good so far, but is ratcheting it up towards something outstanding.

what t f at the scheduling of family guy. i don't get it. can't even be sure they show more than two in any given week.

was just thinking that, wasn't this on last night or the night before?

Oh well, there's some nurses confronting their issues next

this was on one night, the one earlier was on.. another night. both classic material tho.

Oh yeah, i'll never not laugh at family guy, i just wish BBC Three would keep up with the episodes.

Ahhh! Just realised, maybe i shouldn't download everything and moan i've seen it when it comes on TV :(

I'm now firmly on the Being Human bandwagon thanks to you guys and the iplayer. The scripts and acting are a bit rough around the edges, but it's very compelling and the small budget is used cleverly.

The comedy/drama tag is somewhat misleading - it's a good deal darker than I expected!

In fact I was going to turn in, but I think I'll watch episode four first.

Any further thoughts on Being Human now that it's finished? I was impressed on the whole, despite it feeling a little over-written and over-acted at times (having said that, the guy who played Herrick hammed it up something rotten and he was the best thing in it). It was in the spirit of early Doctor Who, offbeat genre television that relies on clever storytelling rather than flashy SFX. It also reminded me of a 90s Vertigo comic, I kept half expecting John Constantine to show up. Here's hoping it gets recommisioned.

And wikipedia tells me it has, for an eight-part series.

The finale made even less sense than the preceding episodes but overall it was pretty good. But I could really do without that relentless post-Spaced excruciating-middle-class-tics-of-embarrassment style of acting - even the vicar or whatever did it!

I agree, I think they should play down the comedy elements and focus on the supernatural drama next time.

I was a bit disappointed by the finale, thought they tried to cram a bit too much into the first half. The comic stuff mostly worked I thought but George got most of the best lines.

No way they should lose the comedy! I'm glad it's less tongue in cheek than Buffy but the humour is very much at the heart of it. I thought it was great, in fact maybe one of the best new uktv series in years. They really managed to do something fresh with the genre.

I don't think they should lose the comedy altogether by any means. I just think less pop-cult referencing clowning around might be in order.

Also George annoys me a bit when he goes all squeaky.

Young, Rich and House Hunting
Episode 5

Ed has been given 1.5 million pounds by his parents to build a property empire.

dont they at least focus group a precis of this ish before they send it out to the 18-35 cd2des

ugh, welcome to Cameron's Britain...

Sitcom about a small-time dope dealer. A penniless Moz calls in his debts. However, his mates seem reluctant to pay him back. Jess falls under the spell of Cartoon Head.

Lucy uses all the tricks at her disposal to keep looking young, yet is outraged by daughter Sherelle's barely-there hemlines. (R)

I'm now fully convinced that Beeb 3 is some kind of dystopian social experiment. Now I'm going to yell at some kids on my lawn.

currently on BBC Three - comedy show parodying hip-hop, starring blacked-up actors.

currently on BBC Three - comedy show parodying hip-hop, starring blacked-up actors.

― Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Saturday, June 11, 2011 12:38 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I have been out of the country for a few months. Please tell me this is not a real thing.

It's Angry Boys, by the Australian guy who did Summer Heights High. So it's not racist, it's a well-observed sideways swipe at illiberal modern society, obviously. Or something.

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsEnts/status/542621062752923648

genuinely thought that was a parody tweet at first

Good god:

https://www.angelfire.com/crazy/grotbags/

the last bit of bit of children's tv that really blew my mind was Boohbah

what was Grotbags a spin-off from? Was it Orville?

wasn't she originally in Rentaghost?

no it seems I'm getting her mixed up with Hazel the McWitch

Her I could handle. I guess it was Grotbags' green facepaint that turned my stomach.

Grotbags' 70s northern soul banger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEYaxZoQ188

a mate once turned up at our house with a woman who looked like grotbags, he'd pulled her at the petrol station, he couldn't take her back to his house because he lived with his parents, pretty grim stuff all round, I left them to it in the living room and went out to the pub

Grotbags was originally in The Pink Windmill.

Thanks Tom

there is a fascinating couple of children's entertainer/panto types of some kind who live down the road from me. Sometimes they are doing gardening still in their working costumes. The bloke always says hello to my kid with a big hearty wave and a HHHEEELLLO! His partner has a polka dot car and even paints silver polka dots on the lower overhanging leaves in the garden! Although sadly I have not seen that much of them during the lockdowns - it must have been tough on them.

I think that post of Cam's is going to haunt my thoughts for a while now!

sorry about that calz

we called this guy "Mad Mart" because we were a houseshare full of heavy drug users, half of us as-yet-undiagnosed schizophrenics, and he was the only regular bloke we knew who actually had a job and who could not get beaten up in all bar one, he would come to our house to "get blazed up" and announce his arrival with a "wazzzzzup" from the budwiser ad, we used to stare at him in wonder, he was like some kind of exotic animal we didn't usually get to see up close. none of this excuses the grotbags incident of course.

when I lived at my mum's I often had wanker mates turning up wanting to use it as a fuck-pad because my mum hardly ever was there and mostly at her boyfriend's pad. I wasn't judging your post, my response was more like a lol of recognition!

CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS arrived at last on BBC3 and iPlayer.

I felt like there was a word for this kind of material - something about something you know is bad yet still watch despite yourself. The ill-starred phrase 'guilty pleasure' will have to do.

The simple thought occurred to me that from a culture historically famed for eloquence, Rooney has made characters most notable for ineloquence.

You can pull that apart one way or another - arguing that other cultures have their own traditions of eloquence; that Ireland also has some famous traditions of taciturnity; that some of its great literature has been deliberately costive or minimal; that this is an adaptation not the book, which may be quite different; and certainly add that it's the characters, not necessarily Rooney herself, who are so feeble at talking. And half the main characters aren't Irish. With all that said I think it's true enough.

I really loved Normal People, one ep down on this and it feels dead and dull

The actor boyf seems an APPALLING actor

Does he? I don't see that. He seems no worse to me than anyone else in this, or indeed in NORMAL PEOPLE. But not much to go on yet.

when is BBC3 bringing back Snog Marry Avoid, Freaky Eaters, and Sun Sex & Suspicious Parents?

I'll admit I am mystified by what a TV adaptation of Normal People could possibly bring to the table; literary fiction based around the inner lives of its characters seems a very bad fit for adaptation unless you go experimental with it.

I thought Normal People worked really well, but I hadn't read the novel.