BBC CHANNELS UPCOMING SHOWS FOR 2021
BBC Studios has announced new shows for 2021 across BBC First, UKTV, BBC Earth and CBeebies.
Adaptations of three best-selling novels, all kinds of detectives investigating all kinds of crimes, glittering award ceremonies and comedy quiz shows and a whole month of Sir David Attenborough’s biggest titles will be coming to BBC channels early next year.
On BBC First, best-selling novels get a new lease of life on the small screen with adaptations of David Nicholls’ Us, Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing and Clara Salaman’s Too Close . Hilarious and heartbreaking, Us stars Tom Hollander ( The Night Manager ) as Douglas, who is blindsided when his wife Connie ( Saskia Reeves ) tells him she is not sure she wants to be married to him anymore. Douglas vows to prove to his wife that he is still the man she fell in love with and to repair his troubled relationship with his son Albie on a long-planned family grand tour of Europe. Elizabeth is Missing sees two-time Academy award winner Glenda Jackson play Maud, a woman determined to find out what has happened to her best friend Elizabeth before her dementia erases the clues. But her search to find Elizabeth unearths an altogether darker unsolved mystery – her sister’s disappearance. The role earned Jackson a BAFTA earlier this year. Emily Watson ( Chernobyl ) stars in psychological thriller Too Close which focuses on the compelling and dangerous relationship between forensic psychiatrist Dr Emma Robertson who is assigned to work with Connie Mortensen ( Denise Gough ) a woman accused of a heinous crime but who claims she can’t remember a thing.
From the team behind Doctor Foster comes Life which covers four interweaving stories about love, parenthood, loss and self-discovery among the occupants of four flats in one house. Cast includes Alison Steadman , Adrian Lester , Victoria Hamilton and Melissa Johns . Also on the slate is 15 Days which starts with a murder as four estranged siblings gather to scatter their mother’s ashes and read her will before flashing back 15 days to discover why the murder took place and who did it. The series stars Catherine Tyldesley ( Coronation Street ). A new series of the ever popular Call The Midwife also premieres in 2021.
Detectives returning to screens next year include Julien Baptiste Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo) as he delves into Budapest’s corrupt underworld to find a British Ambassador’s missing family; Jim Worth ( Tim Roth ) returns in the final series of Tin Star as he and his family go back to Liverpool to confront their deadlist enemies in a battle to win freedom from their past. DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker ) and DI Sunny Khan ( Sanjeev Basker ) investigate another cold case in a fourth series of the BAFTA-winning Unforgotten and D I Neville Parker ( Ralf Little ) unravels more murder mysteries in the sun-soaked Caribbean as the smash-hit whodunnit Death in Paradise celebrates its 10th anniversary.
BBC First will also screen Academy Award winning filmmaker Steve McQueen ’s acclaimed anthology series Small Axe Starring John Boyega ( Star Wars ) and Letitia Wright ( Black Panther ). Set from the late 1960s to the mid-80s, the films each tell a different story involving London’s West Indian community whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will, despite rampant racism and discrimination.
Over on BBC Earth, the year kicks off with a whole month of Sir David Attenborough ’s biggest titles screening at 7.30pm each evening (check). Titles include Climate Change: The Facts, Seven Worlds, One Planet, Blue Planet II, Frozen Planet, Planet Earth II, Dynasties and more. A look at the lives of people who have chosen to live off-grid are the focus of two popular returning series. Where The Wild Men Are: Revisted sees adventurer Ben Fogle revisit people who turned their backs on the rat-race to set up home in some of Earth’s most remote locations. Is life in the wild is still their ultimate dream? A new series of Life Below Zero provides an insight into the resilient characters and their day-to-day lives in Alaska.
On UKTV the laughs continue with a new series of comedy panel show Hypothetical with Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster posing increasingly absurd hypothetical situations to a panel of top comedians who must say how they would deal with them. The glamour and the glitz of the BAFTAs and Brits returns once more and new series of Who Do You Think You Are tells the fascinating family histories of Jodie Whittaker , David Walliams , Liz Carr and Ruth Jones .
Plucky international heroes Xuli, Kyan, Lars, Foz and their disco-grooving mentor Ubercorn are back to discover more about the world in a new series of Go-Jetters on CBeebies while Gem, Cook and Line meet the brand new captain of the Scarlett Squid in Swashbuckle .
Christina Carras, Head of Programming and Advertising Sales, BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand, said: “With such a diverse line-up of shows across our channels there really is something for everyone as we head into 2021. 2020 has been a tough year for television production so we’re doubly pleased to be able to bring together such a vibrant slate. Its great to see hugely popular established shows like Death in Paradise and Call the Midwife alongside completely new and surprising dramas, and talent that ranges from comedians like Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster to the legendary Sir David Attenborough.
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