U.K. broadcaster the BBC turns 100 in 2022 and to mark the occasion, the corporation has unveiled a raft of special programming across genres and platforms under the banner BBC 100.
The content will include the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations, soccer via the Women’s Euros and the World Cup, and the Commonwealth Games.
The BBC will also broadcast specials of its biggest shows around its 100th birthday, including “Strictly Come Dancing,” “Doctor Who,” “Top Gear,” “MasterChef,” “The Apprentice” and “Antiques Roadshow.”
BBC Three will return as a broadcast channel with a focus on British drama with series including an adaptation of “Normal People” writer Sally Rooney’s novel “Conversations with Friends”; “Superhoe,” written by and starring Nicôle Lecky; a contemporary horror series from the Clarkson Twins set in Bolton titled “Red Rose”; and emerging writer Ryan J. Brown’s thriller “Wrecked.”
Three-part series “David Dimbleby’s BBC: A Very British History” will trace the impact of the BBC on British life across recent decades, while in two-part documentary “BBC’s First 50 Years” (working title) John Bridcut will look at the challenges and triumphs of today’s BBC, which have their roots in the corporation’s first half century. Comedy “The Love Box In Your Living Room” with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse will take a look at the BBC’s last 100 years, while on CBBC, children will get “Horrible Histories: BBC’s Big Birthday Bonanza!” in a special of the kid-focused comedy series.
“Here’s One I Made Earlier” (working title), with former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, will explore British children’s programming from the past 100 years.
Live music events will return in 2022 with Radio 1’s Big Weekend, 6 Music Festival and Radio 2 Live bringing acts to audiences across the U.K. In audio, Radio 3 programs will explore the impact of 100 years of radio and there will be broadcasts of live concerts from BBC Orchestras and Choirs, while on Radio 4 “Past Forward,” historian Greg Jenner will use a random date generator to alight somewhere in the BBC’s vast archive.
Charlotte Moore, BBC chief content officer said: “Our centenary year will be a huge treat for audiences of all ages from massive sporting events, comedy, entertainment, drama, arts and music, to documentaries assessing all aspects of the BBC’s history. BBC 100 will celebrate and reflect on the unique role the BBC plays in the lives of audiences across the UK as our much cherished national broadcaster from its creation right up to the present day.”
The BBC is also opening up its entire digitized broadcast archive to students in formal education in the U.K. in 2022, and BBC stars and staff are to visit 250,000 students in schools across the country in a project called Share Your Story.