BBC Three's blog

The gripping finale of the second series of Being Human attracted an audience of one million (4.1%) last night (Sunday 28 February) on BBC Three.

BBC Three’s popular and critically-acclaimed drama about supernatural housemates has once again proved a great success for the channel, with an audience of 1.6 million tuning into the launch episode of this series – an increase of half-a-million on the launch of series one (1.1 million).

Series two has averaged 1.2 million/4.2% and 8.2% amongst 16-34s, and across the week reaches 3.3 million, 8.4% amongst 16-34s.

It has also received 1.7 million requests on BBC iPlayer across the series, with all eight episodes still available to watch for the next seven days.

Being Human’s website – bbc.co.uk/beinghuman – is BBC Three’s best performing site ever and has built a dedicated fan-base through regularly updated posts from cast and crew throughout the show’s two series.

BBC Three is now the most-watched digital channel for the hours it broadcasts and, since its relaunch, it has grown young audiences by 30%.

Being Human is produced by Touchpaper Television, written by Toby Whithouse and stars Russell Tovey, Aidan Turner, Lenora Crichlow and Sinead Keenan.

It has been commissioned for a third series for 2011 by Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC Three, and Ben Stephenson, Controller, Drama Commissioning, where the housemates will relocate to Wales.

Series two of Being Human
“Fantastic.” ***** Heat

“Warm, witty, sexy, and… very human” Guardian

“British genre telly has seldom looked in such fine fettle” Time Out

“One of the best new British series of last year returns” Independent

“Funny, moving, unmissable and the highlight of my weekend” Sun (Lorraine Kelly)

“A series that’s as much about human nature as it is about spookiness and bloodsucking – and that’s why it works” Daily Telegraph

“The best vampire series on TV (yes, we think little old BBC Three’s Being Human is better than mega US hit True Blood)” TV Times

“Smart and cultish comedy horror… excellent” Total TV Guide

Following the huge success of his first series, Russell Howard will be returning to BBC Three with two more helpings of his topical news show.

Series one was the best performing studio-based entertainment show BBC Three has ever launched.

Series two will hit our screens next month, with a third series planned for later this year.

Once again, Russell will scour the media looking for the big stories dominating the news agenda and offer his own unique perspective on them.

He will also be picking out the sometimes overlooked little news nuggets that make him smile.

Russell Howard said of the re-commission: “I just want to say thanks to everyone who watched the show and I can’t wait to start working on the next series.”

BBC Executive Editor for Entertainment, Karl Warner, said: “BBC Three is all about supporting new talent and trying new things. Russell is proof of this and a proper star.

“His first series was a huge hit with BBC Three’s young audience and we’re delighted he’s returning to the channel with not one, but two, more runs.”

Filmed weekly in front of a live studio audience, Russell Howard’s Good News also encourages fans at home to get involved and shape the news agenda by submiting stories online at bbc.co.uk/russellhoward – where they will also be able to view exclusive extra features – or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/russellhoward.

The series, made by Avalon Television, will be produced by Mark Iddon, series produced by Robyn O’Brien and directed by Peter Orton. The executive producers are Jon Thoday, Richard Allen-Turner and James Taylor, and Karl Warner for the BBC.

BBC Three gives election advice to 16-34 year olds in two short trails fronted by the BBC Business Editor Robert Peston.

Made by the BBC’s Current Affairs team, the first 30-second film reminds BBC Three viewers that they must register if they want to vote in the upcoming General Election and Peston explains how to go about it.

The trail will be shown on the channel for the first time on Wednesday 27 January 2010.

In the second 60-second film Peston explains how to vote and this will be shown closer to the election this year.

Robert Peston says: “With the economy in such a delicate state, the forthcoming General Election may be the most important in decades. So registering to vote is more important than ever.”

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC Three, adds: “We want to do everything we can to make sure young people know their voting options.

“Robert Peston is passionate about education and young people and he felt like the perfect person to front these short films.”

Research for the BBC suggests that young people are keen to have more information about elections and voting and BBC Three reaches this audience.

Robert Peston is also fronting six short films shot exclusively for BBC Three online called Peston On Money in which he aims to explain how we got into the biggest financial disaster in half a century and what you need to know to protect yourself.

Not only is Natalie a kettlebell lifter, she is also a keen cycler, rock climber and long-distance runner and was even crowned an adult champion dancer at the age of 18.

Geordie Natalie has only ever left the UK twice, for weekend breaks to Europe. How will she cope on a round-the-world journey that will take her to some of the toughest places of earth?

She says: “I’ve never been anywhere that’s needed sun factor.”

Although Natalie admits that she is a bit scared of training in the heat, she adds: “I’m just gonna have to try and push through the pain barrier if I can, which I am well known for doing.”

Natalie was keen to get involved in Last Woman Standing because she was intrigued by the challenge and adventure of travelling the world and competing at new sports.

One of Natalie’s high points comes during the Water Rafting race: she is really daunted going into the competition as she has a real fear of water so she feels as though she has really overcome something when she manages to complete the training, especially when their raft capsizes.

Natalie finds the way that different cultures treat their animals pretty difficult and, for her, that is one of the lowest points of the trip.

Since she was a teenager she has wanted to be a firefighter because that meets her fitness and sense of community interests. But, since the travelling experience, she is also looking at other options.

Adrenaline junkie Anna challenges herself to some of the most extreme and dangerous water sports on earth, such as kite surfing, driving power boats and wakeboarding.

Born in Kenya to an ex-pat family, Anna was sent to boarding school in the UK at the age of 12. Although she might sound posh, don’t be fooled by the accent as she is not afraid to challenge herself.

Anna says: “I think being well brought up or having a privileged background doesn’t necessarily mean you haven’t had to fight for the things you’ve got.”

Anna has a love for travel and a competitive streak, so Last Woman Standing appealed to her straightaway.

Anna explains: “When this opportunity came along, I realised that the chance to visit six incredible corners of the world doesn’t come along every day. The sporting aspect of the programme sealed the deal as I have always played competitive sport and I always challenge myself to be the top of the game.”

For Anna there are several highlights during the trip, but she is especially proud when a smug local tribesman challenges her to hit the target during buffalo training, because he thinks she can’t do it. Anna, gives it her all, and manages to score a hat-trick.

“Right! I thought, show him what us Last Woman Standing girls are made of. I hit it! Three in a row! I drop my whip on the spot and run to meet the guy in the middle of the field, and he throws me onto his shoulders as the locals cheer.”

Anna enjoys her stay with the Xavante tribe in Brazil. She finds the community interesting and embraces their traditional way of life.

Anna says: “…the entire culture of the Xavante tribe has been with me ever since my stay and plays a part in many of my decisions and thought processes today.”

The youngest of the competitors, Alex has many strings to her bow. At only 19 she has qualified as a personal trainer, competed at pole fitness, and body-building. Alex also loves horses and competes in show jumping, cross country and dressage.

Alex says: “People say I’ve got little woman syndrome, that I feel I have to go out to prove something and maybe that’s right, but I think it will be good to show everyone what I am about.”

Despite all this she is still very girlie – her Chihuahua is called Jimmy Choo after her favourite shoes! As she says: “I think a lot of people underestimate me when they see me, they think I am all hair, nails and handbags and it’s gonna be nice to show them what I can do.”

Having just finished college Alex really wanted a new challenge, before going to university. She saw Last Woman Standing and knew it was right up her street. Experiencing the travel, competing with the local people and testing herself physically, as well as mentally, offers the ideal opportunity to prove to people that she is a strong girl inside and out.

Alex’s high point comes when she finishes a run whilst living with the Xavante in Brazil. She doesn’t consider herself a good runner so training really takes its toll, physically, to the point where she becomes ill.

“It was the hardest week of my life,” she recalls, adding: “The feeling I got when I crossed that line was amazing. Knowing I had done it despite everything really showed me what I am mentally capable of.”

In contrast, training for the Kali in the Philippines, Alex commits to the trial and lives, breathes and trains Kali for five intense days, before the Kali Master Rommel announces that she can’t and isn’t ready to fight.

This is a hard knockback for Alex, for someone to take away her hard work is tough to accept. Instead of getting upset, Alex turns her mental attitude around and tries to understand the reasons and accept the decision.

One of the most memorable moments comes in Brazil when the women take part in a festival which is a celebration of the forest. It’s the beginning of the women taking power festival, so they dress as tree spirits and then dance through their huts to drive out any evil spirits. Alex recalls they had to disguise themselves with leaves and describes the tradition as a “really fun celebration to give thanks to the forest.”

Joni has played rugby for Richmond and Ulster and has also represented Ireland at sailing and Northern Ireland at netball. Joni is well known for her sense of humour; she is very competitive and determined to win. She doesn’t take kindly to anyone moaning, giving up or foolish enough to suggest that women are not as good at sport as men!

“I’ve always been a tomboy. Whenever I was younger, I’d be climbing up trees and falling out of trees and things like that, and I never had a pain threshold, so I was through the roof because I’d never ever been hurt,” says Joni.

Joni wanted a challenge and, following a friend’s suggestion she should apply to take part, she knew straight away she wanted to be involved.

An extreme competitor, Joni says her high notes are “Whenever I win!”, adding: “The Water Buffalo race is the best, it feels a bit more relaxed because it is as much about determination and focus as it is about luck.”

With the Xavante tribe in Brazil, Joni is training for the log race when she finds her determined attitude starting to slip and feelings of vulnerability begin to show.

“The families are quite hard to get to know, I wave or smile and they do nothing, just look blankly at you,” she remarks.

“It’s just the way they are but it’s hard not to let that affect you.”

Joni finds it tough to integrate into the culture and the tribe. She also finds some of the traditions hard to comprehend – in the Philippines, training for the Kali, Master Rommel and his family, who have led the pekiti tirsia kali fighting system for generations, carry out a tradition that involves dripping fresh chicken blood onto the athletes’ heads, a ritual that is believed to drive away any evil spirits they may have brought with them.

Joni says: “It’s hard to understand the reason for doing it and to accept it, even though I respect the fact that different cultures have different beliefs.”

During the endurance trials for the Kali, Joni faces another blow when an injury looks set to thwart her chances to compete. As the family take care of her, while she tries to recover, this set back proves to be a huge frustration as she is desperate to compete.

Joni now plays for Team Northumbria Ladies in the Rugby Union Premiership.

Lesley began training at her local boxing club four years ago in a bid to keep fit. Now she is the Amateur Boxing Association National welterweight women’s champion, and in 2008 she won the gold medal at the European Championships. Lesley hates to lose and relies on power and tactics when she competes.

Lesley says: “As corny as it sounds, boxing chose me. Growing up as a teenager I wasn’t off the rails, but I used to smoke and drink. As I got older I thought, I wanna get fit, but I hated the gym, so my dad’s friend, said, you know, why don’t you try the boxing club on the High Road? And I went and I remember talking to people and they’d be going like four, five times a day, and then I became one of those people!”

Despite missing out on this year’s British ABA National and European boxing championships, Lesley knew that Last Woman Standing would give her the challenge she needed.

During the trip Lesley finds one of the toughest but most rewarding sports to be Water Buffalo Racing, in Indonesia. The environment is intense, and emotions high, which adds to the pressure of competing in the race. Mexico proves to be a hard test on every level and a low point when Lesley struggles with the cold, her health and the local community.

One of the most poignant moments is in the Philippines, when one of the families invites the athletes to their daughter’s wedding ceremony. The bride is surrounded in a circle by her family and friends in a sign of protection and the groom has to break her free.

“It is really symbolic,” Lesley says, “And it is almost as if the groom has to prove that he really wants to marry her and that he is strong enough to fight for her.”

Since returning to the UK, Lesley has been asked to attend the first Female Team GB Olympic 2010 selection camp.

Five female athletes from the UK travel across the globe, live with tribes and remote peoples, and take on local women in some extremely difficult and indigenous sports – all wanting to be the Last Woman Standing – in a new series on BBC Three.

How will a group of very Western girls cope when they take on local women at sports they’ve been practising since they were children? How will they handle the rites of passage and the rituals, the harsh conditions and the reality of the ultimate life changing experience?

From Huka Huka Wrestling in Brazil to Bamboo Raft Racing in the Philippines and from Water Buffalo Racing in Indonesia to Tarahumara Mountain Endurance contests in Mexico, all five women are setting out with one aim – to return with their pride and bodies in tact.

Over the course of their journey the athletes will be tested physically and emotionally… but by the end of the series only one Westerner will have the honour of being crowned the Last Woman Standing.

The challenges

Huka Huka Wrestling – Upper Xingu region, Brazil

Huka Huka Wrestling is a test of power and skill which takes place once a year. The Kamaiura women and men of the Upper Xingu region of Brazil trade their traditional roles for one week. This festival climaxes with a punishing wrestling match. This is a gruelling contest, immersed in strong belief, ritual and custom that each athlete will have to face.

Xavantes Log Race – Mato Grosso, Brazil

A relay race like no other, the Xavantes log race is an exhausting competition between the tribe. Men and women compete separately in “log races” in which teams of runners hold logs on their shoulders and pass them to one another. Two teams are selected and each of the athletes will have to earn their place in the team. This game will be played out in the blistering Brazilian heat and will be a true test of the athletes’ strength and stamina.

Kali – Luzon, Philippines

Kali is a martial art with blades, sticks and hand-to-hand fighting which was traditionally performed by Filipino women as a form of defence whilst their men were away hunting. Kali is all about resilience and technique, and the athletes will face the harshest week of their lives learning the discipline of stick fighting in a remote martial arts training camp. According to kali tradition, in order to fight well, the athletes must be able to cope with pain and face their fears. Before training can begin the girls will have to prove themselves during a series of endurance trials, which will push them to their limits. They must demonstrate that they have the strength and will to fight, even after they are exhausted.

Bamboo Raft Race – Coron, Philippines

The Tagbanua tribe live harsh and isolated lives gathering fish and seaweed from the waters in the region of Palawan. The women learn to work on the sea from an early age and they soon become masters on ocean-going bamboo rafts that are held together with nothing more than twine. The athletes will be taking part in a tough 12-kilometre race across the open seas against some of the toughest seafarers on earth. They have just seven days to master the art of rafting, learning how to keep afloat, balance and row in the rough, choppy water. This raft race will be a test of skill, stamina and, above all, sheer determination… only the mentally strong will have the will to win.

Water Buffalo Racing – Sumbawa, Indonesia

For this high-octane race the athletes will need nerves of steel – each of the girls will have to drive a chariot drawn by two water buffaloes. This is no mean feat as these animals have been bred and trained for racing and reach speeds of more than 30mph. If that wasn’t tough enough, they must go over two jumps as they fly down the course. The athletes will have to battle their nerves, race over a distance of 300m and learn to control their buffaloes if they are to reach the end of the course.

Tarahumara Mountain Endurance Race – Mexico

The Tarahumara of the Sierra Madre in northern Mexico call themselves the Raramuri which literally means “those who run”. Over generations they have adapted to the thin mountain air and their extraordinary lung capacity and stamina puts them among the best endurance runners in the world. The athletes will be taking part in a special race known as Arihueta – a long distance run, at an exhausting high altitude, through the treacherous Mexican mountains. While they are running they will have to hurl hoops with a stick and, as is tradition, their shoes will be primitive sandals made from old car tyres.

The series will culminate as the athletes go up against each other in the ultimate altitude endurance event.

Of the five competitors that began this gruelling journey, who will be the Last Woman Standing?

A season full of brand new shows; major returning hits; new comic talent; gripping drama and hard-hitting documentaries on the back of a record-breaking 2009.

BBC Three enters 2010 at the top of its game with more young people than ever before watching the channel, and a Winter/Spring season brimming with the next generation of creative talent.

Russell Tovey, Nicola Roberts, Dan Clark, Robert Peston, Johnny Vegas, Russell Howard, Simon Bird, Harriet Braun, Catherine Johnson – just some of the artists gracing BBC Three both in front of and behind the screen in 2010.

The channel is now the most watched amongst 16-34s for the hours it broadcasts with 4.8 million watching every week.

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC Three, said: “BBC Three has evolved a great deal in the last couple of years, with the channel growing by 29% since its re-launch. I believe my mission is clear – to provide thought-provoking and entertaining programmes for young viewers, featuring young British talent.

“Our new programme line-up delivers on this promise. It is a rich and innovative combination of thought-provoking Documentaries, fresh Comedy and Drama, and hit Entertainment – and I feel confident that we will continue to attract young viewers in 2010.”

Season Highlights
Bold, original drama now sits at the heart of BBC Three and a new year sees the return of the hit Being Human. Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner are back as George, Annie and Mitchell – a werewolf, a ghost and a vampire trying to live normal lives. The critically-acclaimed drama will also be back for a third series which sees the housemates relocate from their current home in Bristol to Wales – a move triggered by events in the dramatic climax of the second series.

Created by Harriet Braun (Mistresses, Attachments), Lip Service is a modern relationship drama following the lives of a group of twenty-something lesbians living in Glasgow. Produced by Kudos Film and Television (Ashes To Ashes, Spooks, Life On Mars) the drama stars Laura Fraser as Cat, a self-assured architect; Ruta Gedmintas as Frankie, a spirited photographer; and Fiona Button who plays Tess, a struggling actress.

The channel’s commitment to new original UK drama remains as strong as ever with the commission of three new pilots which will result in one going to full series – a repeat of BBC Three’s experiment two years ago resulted in the commission of the hugely successful Being Human.

Written by Catherine Johnson, best known for the film Mamma Mia, Dappers is a Bristol-based comedy about Faye and Ashley who are young mothers and best mates living in housing association flats in well-to-do Clifton.

Pulse is a medical horror drama based in St Timothy’s – one of the UK’s top teaching hospitals, home to some of the country’s most promising trainee doctors. But beneath its veneer of medical normality lies a secret network of dangerous experiments pushing back the boundaries of science itself, with potentially horrifying consequences. Pulse is written by Paul Cornell.

Written by Leo Richardson and inspired by his stage play, Stanley Park is a sharply observed, character-based ensemble comedy drama. Set in a south London suburb, it tells the story of a group of young friends experiencing the hilarious but often painful upheavals that take place during a tumultuous period in their lives.

Factual
BBC Three remains the only digital channel to tackle serious issues for young viewers and the channel goes one step further this year with a range of fresh, new projects.

In a pioneering new dance show Dancing On Wheels, six celebrities are paired with six wheelchair users as they compete to represent the UK in the European Wheelchair dance championships.

Coached and choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing’s Brian Fortuna the celebrity dancers are Heather Small; Caroline Flack; Kevin Sacre; Martin Offiah; Michelle Gayle and Mark Foster. Their dances, which include the waltz, cha cha cha, tango and rumba, are judged by Strictly’s James and Ola Jordan and Paralympian Ade Adepitan who must choose which couple to eliminate from the competition each week.

BBC Three presents a ground-breaking season of documentaries about young people with autism called Living With Autism.

Two years ago, James Hobley couldn’t read or write, and then he discovered disco dancing and his world changed. Now, 10-years-old, James could soon be eligible for mainstream school and hopes to win the World Disco Dancing Championships. Disco Kid follows his incredible story.

Autism School follows the experiences of teenagers studying and living together at a specialist boarding school, while The Autistic Driving School follows young autistic people facing the challenging rite of passage that is learning to drive.

The season also includes a follow up to last year’s acclaimed documentary The Autistic Me. It follows the fortunes of three young people with autism, and their families, as they continue their difficult journey to adulthood.

In the build up to the World Cup, five Wags of top English footballers leave behind their privileged lives to undertake a life-changing journey to understand the reality of daily life in South Africa. In Wags In South Africa (working title), Chantelle Tagoe (Emille Heskey’s partner), Ellie Darby (Matthew Upson’s partner), Elen Rivas (Frank Lampard’s ex-partner) and Amii Grove and Imogen Thomas, the former girlfriends of Jermaine Pennant and Jermaine Defoe, are faced with the stark reality of the orphan crisis, HIV pandemic and social breakdown that engulfs the country.

Girls Aloud star Nicola Roberts explores the extremes to which some people go to achieve the perfect tan in What Would You Do For A Tan?

Other documentaries featuring in the Dangerous Pleasures Season include Stag Weekends – The Dirty Secrets in which BBC reporter Simon Boazman investigates the impact that the stag industry is having on the sex trade in Europe.

Current Affairs
In 2010 BBC Three’s commitment to hard-hitting current affairs continues with a series of documentaries that follow young people as they explore fresh challenges and troubles in foreign lands.

In Judith: Going Back to Congo, Thandie Newton narrates a film which follows 23-year-old Judith as she returns to the Democratic Republic of Congo where rape has become a weapon of war.

In Nel: From Camden To Kabul, 21-year-old Nel returns to Afghanistan to find out what life for women was like under the Taliban, and how much life has really changed for women since.

Girls On The Frontline follows four extraordinary young women pushed to their limits as they serve in the British Army on the frontline of the conflict in Afghanistan. With unprecedented access, BBC Three explores how these young women, all in their twenties, face frontline battle and the challenges of some of the most violent months for British forces so far.

For the first time, award-winning business journalist Robert Peston comes to BBC Three in Peston On Money (working title). In six short films, shot exclusively for online and aimed at young people, Robert examines how the UK was hit by the largest financial disaster in half a century and what viewers can do to protect themselves. He also chairs a BBC Three audience debate tackling a wide range of issues including why debt is dangerous.

Lindsay Lohan travels across India to meet the people involved in child trafficking in Lindsay Lohan In India (working title). From poverty-stricken parents sending their children away to work, to traffickers trying to make a quick buck, Lindsay questions if there is any solution to this abominable trade.

Comedy
There’s plenty of fresh, new comedy on BBC Three this year. In a brand new show, critically-acclaimed character comedian Simon Brodkin unleashes his London Geeza in… Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show.

Russell Tovey plays Steve, a laddish man with no desire to seek employment, in a hilarious and often shocking comedy about what really goes on behind the bedroom doors of today’s twenty-somethings in Young, Lazy And Unemployed.

Puppets join the cast on BBC Three this year in the shape of We Are Mongrels. This ambitious new comedy tells the tale of four urban animals who hang out together in the bin yard of an inner-city pub.

In The Gemma Factor, Gemma Collinge has only one ambition – to be famous by the time she’s 21. Living in a tiny backwater, Gemma dreams of escaping to the Big Smoke for the bright lights and all its trappings.

Entertainment
In the coming months, the entertainment slate should give young audiences plenty to make them smile.

One of the runaway hits of 2009, Russell Howard’s Good News is back as, each week, Russell scours the media looking for the big stories dominating the news and offering his own unique perspective.

In the exciting new comedy panel show, The King Is Dead, a well-known public figure is hypothetically bumped off each week and a comic interview panel led by Simon Bird must scour the Great British celebrity pool for a top-notch replacement.

Following the hit series, The Undercover Princes, BBC Three once again throws open the regal runway to welcome three princesses in The Undercover Princesses who head for the UK in search of their very own Prince Charming.