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Indiantelevision.com
MUMBAI: BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson has set sights on making BBC the hallmark of quality drama and the automatic home for the best talent in the world.
Speaking at an event for writers, actors, industry and press in the UK, Stephenson said that BBC and drama are inseparable. "It is written through the BBC like a stick of rock. No other broadcaster in the world has drama so firmly in its DNA.?
Setting out his vision for the genre and looking forward to new horizons, Stephenson?s aim is to build a BBC drama department that has an enormous international reputation. "That means making us more British than ever - it is about applying the Danny Boyle vision to our work - a bold, adventurous, authorial approach that exports because of its Britishness not despite it. A BBC that feels inspiringly creative - where there is a buzz and creativity and anything goes optimism.?
He signalled the dawning of a new era of ambition with the arrival of a new DG. ?Lord Hall and I have had early talks about the BBC as a cultural organisation with an international reputation, one to make us proud and that strengthens our creative muscles. I want to make BBC drama a cultural institution ? a touchstone for quality and modernity with all the excitement and glamour of a curtain going up."
Stephenson announced a range of new commissions. One of them is ?Atlantis?. The city of Atlantis is a mysterious, ancient place; a world of bull leaping, of snake haired goddesses and of palaces so vast it was said they were built by giants.
It?s into this realm that the young Jason arrives and an amazing adventure begins, bringing to life the vast store of Greek myths and legends re-imagined for a new generation in the 13-part series.
The shooting for this series will begin in Wales and Morocco in April.
?Death Comes To Pemberley? is another show lined up for launch. Adapted from P.D James? novel in this 200th anniversary year of the first publication of ?Pride & Prejudice?, P.D James? homage to Austen brings the world to life. Set six years after ?Pride & Prejudice? ends and centering on Austen?s best-known characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, the three-parter combines classic period drama with a highly suspenseful and brilliantly crafted murder mystery plot.
?The Interceptor? is an eight-part series about a top secret, state of the art law enforcement team whose unswerving mission is to hunt down some of Britain?s most dangerous and ruthless criminals. ?Jamaica Inn is a new adaptation of the classic Daphne du Maurier novel, set in 1820 against the foreboding backdrop of windswept Cornish moors, this highly charged, gothic romance follows young Mary Yellan as she becomes entangled in a dangerous criminal world ridden with smuggling and murder, testing her resolve and morality to the very core.
For BBC Four, there is ?Burton And Taylor? which is about volatile ex-lovers in the story of their ill-fated appearance in a 1983 revival of Noel Coward?s stage play, Private Lives. ?Burton and Taylor? is a drama about one of the most fascinating, glamorous and tempestuous relationships of the 20th century, that of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, the two most famous movie stars of their day who played out every high and low of their love affair, their marriages and divorces right in the public eye.
Also as part of the BBC?s blockbuster celebrations to mark the Doctor turning 50, fans will be able to see ?Doctor Who? in 3D! To be broadcast using some of the BBC?s HD capacity, the show?s lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat said, ?It?s about time. Technology has finally caught up with Doctor Who and your television is now bigger on the inside. A whole new dimension of adventure for the Doctor to explore.
