BBC One Unveils Winter Schedule
A new drama based on the best-selling novel by Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and a drama retelling the last week in the life of Jesus Christ headline the winter 2008 season on BBC One.
Roly Keating, acting controller of BBC One,said: “The winter schedule on BBC One reflects a confident and innovative channel, with some big names and bold commissions.
“In an epic film treat for viewers, the combined talents of Richard Curtis and Anthony Minghella will bring The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency alive for the channel. Filmed entirely on location in Botswana, it’s an entertaining and optimistic story, offering a very different insight to Africa than we are used to seeing in the news.
“Plus, for the first time on television, The Passion will tell the story of Jesus Christ from three different points of view, with all the key characters intimately characterised, and will be played out over one week to create a compelling viewing experience.”
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency chronicles the adventures of Precious Ramotswe and is directed and written by Anthony Minghella and co-written by Richard Curtis.
The Passion, written by Emmy Award-winner Frank Deasy (Prime Suspect 7) and developed by Nigel Stafford-Clark (Bleak House), will be scheduled across one week of the schedule in the run up to Easter 2008.
The final chapter of Sir David Attenborough’s epic overview of life on earth, Life In Cold Blood, uses the latest filming technology from the BBC’s Natural History Unit to reveal the intimate lives of cold blooded reptiles and amphibians and discover the secrets of their success.
There will also be two historic classics dramatised for viewers’ enjoyment this winter: Jane Austen’s Sense And Sensibility and Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise To Candleford.
The follow up to Life On Mars also hits our screens, with Ashes To Ashes charting the next chapter in the life of brash detective Gene Hunt.
In The Last Enemy, Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Carlyle head an all-star cast in a new thriller about a man whose search for the truth about his brother’s death catapults him into an international conspiracy – and a passionate love affair.
The Last Enemy is written by Peter Berry (Prime Suspect 6, Kiszko – A Life For A Life) and co-stars Max Beesley, Anamaria Marinca, David Harewood and Geraldine James.
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