BBC Studios has been kicking TV goals during 2021. The business has had star performers across the production and sales divisions with popular content for all ages – from Bluey to Sir David Attenborough.
BBC Studios general manager Australia and New Zealand, Fiona Lang, spoke with Mediaweek and she began with news from sales during the MIPCOM TV period.
The Green Planet host Sir David Attenborough
“It’s very pleasing to see there is still the continued demand for the premium content the BBC makes. That is driving the growth in sales to global streaming platforms and for our direct-to-consumer business.
“One of the most anticipated new programs is Ragdoll which is quite a dark thriller by the producers that made Killing Eve. It has been made for Alibi in the UK and AMC in the US. BBC First has secured it for Australia.”
Ragdoll castmembers: Henry Lloyd-Hughes as D.S. Nathan Rose, Thalissa Teixeira as D.I. Emily Baxter and Lucy Hale as D.C. Lake Edmunds
(Photo: Nadav Kander/BBCS/UK TV/AMC)
The six-part Ragdoll will be made available initially on demand to Foxtel’s premium customers.
Lang noted it is another important series that is part of the BBC partnership with Foxtel. “We run five channels on Foxtel and also produce The Great Australian Bake Off for Lifestyle.”
A premium factual series deal coming out of MIPCOM is ABC securing the latest from Louis Theroux, Forbidden America.
The short synopsis initially released for the series said: “In Forbidden America, Louis explores how online has collided with the real world, helping the far-right build solidarity, creating power shifts in the porn industry and seeing rap artists live-streaming feuds.”
Another recent sale continues the BBC relationship with Nine for its natural history content.
“The Green Planet is the latest of our tentpole franchises, and the five-part series is again presented by Sir David Attenborough.”
Lang noted the BBC supplies Nine with a lot of content for a Natural World BVOD hub with over 30 documentaries, many hosted by Sir David.
9NOW’s Natural World BVOD hub
In terms of programming that performed well this year for the BBC and its customers, Lang nominated The Perfect Planet which Nine showed on Saturday nights mid-year.
“Vigil more recently has also been a huge success,” she added. One of the great crime dramas of the year, Vigil features Suranne Jones investigating a murder aboard a nuclear-powered British naval submarine patrolling the Northern Atlantic. The series screened first on-demand for Foxtel and Binge customers and was later programmed on BBC First. Another series that also launched like that was White House Farm, screened in 2020.
Suranne Jones in Vigil
Although on demand viewing is growing, it’s not all about streaming. “Despite the growth of on demand, the data indicates our channels still have a really strong linear audience,” explained Lang.
The growth of streaming services though has been good news for TV distribution businesses and the BBC is no exception. Lang said Foxtel was the BBC’s biggest streaming customer. “It is not all first run content, and not all of it is exclusive, but it is a critical part of the home of their Best of British offering. Some of the content is on multiple platforms, and that is popular series you might expect like Doctor Who and Top Gear.”
A more recent entrant in the streaming business in Australia is BritBox which celebrates its first birthday here in November. “We are very happy with the performance of BritBox so far. It’s on track with its business plan. As we learn more and more about what the audiences want we have been loading more of that content and really building the program library.”
See also: BBC and ITV streaming service BritBox launches in Australia
Regarding BritBox commissions, Lang said they were expecting more first run content coming through.
Lang nominated All Creatures Great and Small (season two recently premiered) and the newest Line of Duty (season six) as among the best performing BritBox programs since launch. Another recent release was Professor T.
The Great Australian Bake Off
(Photo: Nicholas Wilson)
BBC Studios Australian productions
The return season of The Great Australian Bake Off is nearly completed after a break caused by Covid. That will screen on Lifestyle next year.
Also coming in 2022 will be the next series of Seven’s Dancing with the Stars: All Stars which has been in production. Other local productions include The Weakest Link for Nine and Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind for SBS.
See also: How BBC Studios key appointment will grow local production business
While Lang agreed that unscripted is in big demand both for the FTA market and streaming services, she said there remains interest in drama, despite the lack of new commissions announced at the recent FTA Upfronts.
“We are finding that and there is an interest from broadcasters in drama. Local broadcasters want to de-risk it as much as possible with international partners to help with funding.”
Looking to the future, Lang said the business will be both looking for global interest in its productions, but to also partner more with Australian broadcasters.
Ludo Studio’s Bluey
One series that BBC Studios work with from Australia is Bluey which was a joint commission from the ABC and BBC kid’s brand CBeebies. The Bluey deal is too complicated to detail here, but a second window was sold to Disney+ for all markets except China. BBC Studios then has various sales to FTA partners is different territories. The most recent Bluey sale sees the Ludo Studio animated series make its free-to-air debut today in Ireland on RTÉjr.
The live show Bluey’s Big Play was organised by the BBC Studios live event team and despite more than few challenges they faced during Covid, Lang noted they still managed around 300 shows in 70.