BBC announce four new drama commissions

The BBC has announced that BBC Drama Productions are to produce four new dramas for television.

Frankie, a new six-part series has been written and created by Lucy Gannon. The Musketeers is written by co-creator of Primeval, Adrian Hodges, and will have ten episodes. The Lady Vanishes becomes one of the first BBC One programmes to be announced to air this Christmas. The 90-minute single drama has been adapted by Fiona Seres.
In The Flesh will air on BBC Three and is described as an ‘event drama’. The three, 90-minute series has been written by Dominic Mitchell, who was discovered  through a BBC Writersroom competition
Frankie, BBC One

A modern and redemptive take on the life and work of a dedicated district nurse whose patients matter more to her than her personal life. It’s about ordinary lives which are often in huge domestic crisis. Our heroine, Frankie is a heroine for the modern age who looks life and death in the eye; her mission is to make a difference.

The Musketeers, BBC One

A fresh and contemporary take on the classic characters created by Alexandre Dumas in his much-loved novel. The Musketeers are a crack-team of highly trained soldiers, far more than the King’s personal bodyguards, confronting impossible odds and fighting any battle if the cause is just. The series bursts with escapism, adventure and romance and is set to thrill audiences with cracking stories of the week. Co-produced with BBC WorldWide.

The Lady Vanishes, BBC One Christmas

From the novel ‘The Wheel Spins’ filmed by Hitchcock as The Lady Vanishes, this 1930’s thriller by Ethel Lina White has been adapted by Fiona Seres for Christmas on BBC One. When the spoilt but beautiful Iris returns home from a holiday in the Balkans, she is befriended on the train by an English woman she knows only as “Miss Froy”. Iris falls asleep, and when she awakes some hours later, Miss Froy has vanished. Fearing madness and risking death, Iris desperately tries to solve the sudden disappearance of her traveling companion.

In The Flesh, BBC Three

His script begins after the Zombie Uprising has been quelled by the Human Volunteer Force and life is starting to return to normal. Any surviving zombies have been captured, medicated, held in an NHS holding facility in Norfolk and are being slowly re-integrated back into society, with the help of contact lenses and cover up mousse. The story follows teenager Kieran Walker and boldly goes where no zombie drama has gone before.

“This raft of new drama reflects the range and ambition of in-house. A unique mix of classic and contemporary pieces have produced surprising and original scripts, from both new and established writers – all of which represents a thriving creative team.” – Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning