Netflix copro joins BBC drama slate

The BBC has ordered an array of new programming including a Netflix coproduction as part of a revamp of its scripted output under new controller of drama commissioning Piers Wenger.

Piers Wenger

The commissions make up drama chief Wenger’s first slate since he arrived at the BBC from Channel 4 last year.

Giri/Haji, from Joe Barton (Humans), is an eight-part series about a Tokyo detective who travels to London in search of his wayward younger brother, who is thought to have become a gangster.

It is being produced by Jane Featherstone’s Sister Pictures and will premiere on BBC1, with Netflix streaming globally outside the UK.

Also on BBC1’s slate is the first UK TV adaptation of HG Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. The 3×60′ miniseries is being produced by Poldark prodco Mammoth Screen and has been written by Doctor Who’s Peter Harness.

A Very English Scandal is from fellow Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies and based on the book by journalist John Preston, which explores the true story of a politician’s attempt to kill his former lover. Stephen Frears directs the three-parter, which is being produced by Blueprint Pictures for BBC1.

Elsewhere, PBS in the US has joined on a 3×60′ adaptation of Little Women from UK prodco Playground; Black Narcissus (3×60′) is an adaptation by DNA Films of Rumer Godden’s book about sexual repression; and StudioCanal-owned Red Production Company is behind relationship drama Come Home (3×60′).

The slate also includes Lookout Point’s A Suitable Boy (8×60’), based on Vikram Seth’s eponymous novel, and The Wilsons (working title, 3×60’). It’s set in 1960s London, 1940s London and India in the 1930s and is being adapted by Andrew Davies and produced by Snowed-In Productions.

All shows will air on BBC1 alongside 6×60′ thriller Informer, which is being produced by Neal Street.

BBC2, meanwhile, will air Cold War drama Summer of Rockets (6×60′) from Little Island and online-only BBC3 will offer Overshadowed (8×10′) from Rollem Productions, based on Eva O’Connor’s play about a girl with anorexia.

Fifth and sixth seasons of hit police corruption series Line of Duty, from ITV-owned World Productions, have also been ordered following the finale of season four on Sunday, which drew in 7.5 million viewers.

Wenger unveiled the shows at a packed event in London yesterday evening alongside BBC director general Tony Hall.

The former C4 scripted chief said he wanted to “think outside of the usual parameters” to discover new drama ideas and added that he wanted a “strong streak of Britishness” to run throughout its the BBC’s output.

Hall added that “high-quality drama that engages and excites the public is a priority” for the UK pubcaster, adding that Wenger’s slate would “continue to deliver just that. It is an exciting time for fans of great drama.”