Melvyn Bragg & Mark Gatiss head to BBC2

Bragg returns to the BBC to present two-parter Melvyn Bragg’s Radical Lives, which will explore the impact of political thinkers cleric John Ball, the intellectual inspiration for The Peasant’s Revolt, and Thomas Paine, author of influential papers The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason.  

It will be produced by indie Directors Cut Productions, in which Bragg is a shareholder.

Meanwhile, Gatiss will bring his distinctive wit and sense of macarbre to a one-off version of the classic chiller The Tractate Middoth, which he will write and direct.

The Sherlock co-creator will also present Ghost Writer (working title) a single doc examining the M.R James’s life and work.

Gatiss will embark on an atmospheric trip from James’s childhood home in Suffolk, to Eton and on to Cambridge. Executive produced by Michael Poole, the in-house films will both air over the Christmas period.

Separately art historian James Fox will front a three-part in-house series exploring the British Renaissance, which saw the country embrace cutting edge art, literature, architecture and science.

It will cover cultural figures such as Holbein and Van Dyck, astronomers Nicholas Kretzer, architects such as Robert Smythson and poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. The executive producer for the BBC is Jonty Claypole.

Finally, BBC2 has commissioned a four-part BBC America co-production My God, It’s Full Of Stars: A Journey to the Edge of Science Fiction.

Each episode will explore a science fiction theme spanning time travel, the space exploration, aliens and robots. It will be made with the help of key filmmakers, writers, actors and graphic artists.

The shows have been commissioned by BBC2 controller Janice Hadlow and Mark Bell, arts commissioning editor.

Bell said: “BBC’s arts programmes celebrate authorship across an eclectic range of subjects; it is what makes us tick.”