BBC1 is hunting Who Do You Think You Are? style formats while BBC2 is looking for social experiments following the broadcaster’s factual restructure earlier this year.

Who Do You Think You Are?

The shopping lists were revealed at an indie briefing on Tuesday for the BBC’s four main channels after Alison Kirkham replaced Emma Swain as controller of factual on an interim basis.  

BBC1’s priority is to find the next Who Do You Think You Are? the Wall to Wall genealogy series, which has just finished its 12th run. There is no suggestion that the format is coming to an end but acting controller of factual Alison Kirkham is keen to find returnable shows of a similar scale and ambition that also contain specialist factual content.

Meanwhile, BBC2 wants to tap into the current trend of social experiment formats after shows including Channel 4’s Married At First Sight, Red Arrow’s Kiss Bang Love, MTV’s Are You The One? and Discovery’s Naked and Afraid have been creating global buzz.

BBC2 has dipped its toe in the genre recently with What’s The Right Diet For You and forthcoming Twenty Twenty-produced series Britain’s Hardest Grafter and is now looking for more projects.

Kirkham also revealed that she was seeking looking for lower-cost, longer-running, anbitious factual series in the vein of Gardeners’ World, Only Connect and Mastermind that would allow the BBC to stretch its existing budget further.

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