Commissioners

Meet the UK Factual Commissioners: Harry Lansdown, Commissioning Editor, Formats, Features and Specialist Factual, BBC3

By TV Mole ⋅ May 15, 2010 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ ⋅Post a comment

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Photo by Torres CC BY-SA 2.0

Harry Lansdown, commissioning editor, formats, features and specialist factual, BBC3 recently outlined his commissioning needs to attendees of the Broadcast Factual Forum.

Harry's overview of BBC3:

• • Average age of viewers is 37 years; focus is on attracting younger viewers but happy that older viewers also come to the channel
  • Programmes must not be exclusively ‘youth’ subjects like gap years or flatshares.
  • Viewers like information presented in an entertaining way by younger British presenters;
  • Schedule:
    • 8-9pm – fun and light-hearted
    • 9-10pm – factual programmes
    • 10.30pm – factual entertainment for post-Eastenders crowd eg. Kill It, Cook It, Eat It and Bizarre ER

Programmes that work on BBC3:

• World’s Strictest Parents
• Vampires: Why They Bite
• Cannabis: Britain’s Secret Farms
• Coming up in 2011 is a programme to mark the 10th anniversary of the conflict in Afghanistan, told from the soldiers’ point of view, and using their user generated content.
  

 Looking For:

• New ways of doing history eg. Vampires: Why They Bite, in which Lisa Hilton takes us through the story of vampires;
• Wants more history one-offs and series;
• More 60′ features;
• Programmes that are themed around a subject eg. Vampires: Why They Bite / Being Human

Source: Broadcast Factual Forum 10th March, 2010

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