BBC3 is to challenge young fathers to deliver their partners’ babies, while Radio 1 DJ Reggie Yates will go inside Britain’s gangs as part of a major crime season.
Channel controller Zai Bennett has commissioned the team behind Junior Doctors to make Don’t Mind Him, He’s My Midwife to mark 50 years since a report suggested that men should be allowed in the delivery room with their partners.
Inspired by a new report from the Royal College of Midwifes that calls for a more hands-on-role, two fathers-to-be will learn midwifery.
BBC in-house entertainment is producing the 6 x 60 minute series.
Bennett revealed the commission at a Broadcasting Press Guild event today, alongside six documentaries that will be broadcast under the banner of The Crime Season.
Yates’ documentary, Inside Teenage Gangs, will take him into the heart of gangs, uncovering their reason for joining and meeting those trying to break free from gang culture. He will also meet the former leader of South London’s most feared street gang. Mentorn Media is producing the 60-minute programme.
The biggest commission in the strand is Underage, Graphic and Criminal, a 4 x 60-minute series from Minnow Films exploring the human stories behind shocking footage of crimes caught on CCTV and amateur footage shot by bystanders, victims and even the offenders themselves.
Meanwhile, Fresh One is making My Criminal Family, a series of three 60-minute documentaries featuring young people trying to grow up while their carers are in, or awaiting, prison.
The season also includes a one-off 60-minute factual drama from BBC Current Affairs. My Murder tells the true story of Shakilus Townsend, a 16 year old boy led to his death by the 15 year old he thought was his girlfriend. She was dubbed “the honey trap killer” and the case dominated front pages for weeks.
Rounding off the season are two single documentaries: Renegade Pictures’ My Mugger and Me and Rape: Don’t Call Me A Liar from BBC Northern Ireland Current Affairs.
“Our mission is not only to make our audience laugh, but also to make them think,” said Bennett. “Our season of programmes around crime and justice will look at what it’s like to be a young adult in the UK today from the perspectives of both the victims and the perpetrators of a crime.”
Bennett also outlined his ambition for Young Voters’ Question Time to be retooled as a monthly show once the BBC signs a new contract for its BBC1 parent show next week.
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