BBC Autumn Line-Up Unveiled

An epic drama about Cecil Rhodes and a dramatisation of Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall head the BBC’s new autumn programme schedule which was unveiled this morning. Rhodes took ten years to make and stars Martin Shaw as the African adventurer, whilst the adaptation of Bronte’s classic features Tara Fitzgerald, Rupert Graves and Toby Stephens.

In her first starring role since EastEnders, Letitia Dean turns the clock back to 1959 in The Hello Girls, a new comedy-drama about a group of telephonists, and there is new contemporary drama in Beck, with Amanda Redman as an investigator who specialises in tracing missing persons. Patricia Routledge solves fresh mysteries in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, while Jimmy Nail sets out to discover who frames Jed Sheppard in a new series of Crocodile Shoes.

Other new series include Pie In The Sky, Dangerfield and Casualty. There will also be one-off dramas in the shape of Truth Or Dare, a dark tale featuring Helen Baxendale and John Hannah, and The Fix starring Steve Coogan and Jason Isaacs based on British football’s first major scandal.

In terms of factual features there is a special documentary on the Suez Crisis and People’s Century returns for a new series. TV60 commemorates the 60^th anniversary of the launch of the world’s first regular high-definition television service by the BBC and nature programmes include Big Cat Diary and Way Out West.

The BBC’s comedy offering comes in the form of a one-off Absolutely Fabulous and new series of The Legacy of Reginald Perrin, The Thin Blue Line and Chef!. Clive Anderson also gets his own talk show and there is a new series of Noel’s House Party.

Sporting highlights include the return of FA Carling Premiership football in Match of the Day and major movies include Falling Down and Under Siege. Next month the BBC will also unveil a new look to weekdays.

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