Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

New commissions One Night, Call The Midwife, Bound (working title), Morton and Great Expectations set the tone for Danny Cohen's vision for drama on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One.

Danny Cohen, Controller Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One, says: "I hope that these commissions begin to express the range and creative ambition we want Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One drama to capture in the coming years. There are great opportunities here for new writers, as well as a new commitment to blue-collar drama, and classic period pieces."

All five dramas were commissioned by Danny Cohen and Ben Stephenson, Controller, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Drama Commissioning.

Ben Stephenson adds: "This raft of original drama shows the ambition of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One in the future. Alongside new works by world-class established talent, it is thrilling to have Paul Smith and Julie Geary writing their first original dramas."

One Night, 4 x 60 event drama, written by Paul Smith, made by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Drama Production

Paul Smith's first commission for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One primetime is a gripping event drama set over one blistering hot summer night when nerves are frayed and tensions ride high. An original authored drama about four very ordinary but different people whose fates are linked by a seemingly inconsequential event. Each episode is one character's stand-alone story which tells the events of that night from four different points of view.

Call The Midwife, 6 x 60 series, written by Heidi Thomas (Upstairs Downstairs, Cranford), made by Neal Street Productions

Adapted by Heidi Thomas from Jennifer Worth's best selling memoir, Call The Midwife is a moving, funny, colourful look at midwifery and family in 1950's East End London. It follows a new young midwife, Jenny, who joins an eccentric, loveable community of nursing nuns. We follow their friendships and the extraordinary true stories they encounter, as they are drawn into the lives and homes of the women and families they treat.

Bound (working title), 6 x 60 series, written by Julie Geary (Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, Lip Service), made by Tiger Aspect Productions

The series is about of a group of women who have lost the men in their lives to Her Majesty's Pleasure. From the innocent mother-to-be who was unaware that her husband was a murderer, to the sophisticated and complicit career-criminal's wife; these women couldn't be more different, yet the situation they share brings them together. Expect crime and jeopardy, family and sacrifice, and love and romance. But above all else, expect humanity and humour as the unlikeliest of women find in each other the friendship and family they are missing.

Morton, 8 x 60 series, written by Frank Spotnitz made by Kudos Film and Television

Meet Sam. A spy. A hunter. And herself hunted by an enemy more ruthless and determined than any she's ever known. Sam has been running from her past her entire life but when she returns to Mobius, the organisation that employs her, and begins to pursue her pursuer, she will discover the only way to escape that past... is to confront it. This is the story of a spy with a bull's eye on her back, a human target unable to trust anyone at any time, even the man she loves. She is, quite literally, running for her life. Morton is a smart, complex and contemporary spy series.

Great Expectations, 3 x 60, written by Sarah Phelps (Oliver Twist, EastEnders), made by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Drama Production

Sarah Phelps' bold new adaptation will give us the heart and guts of Dickens at his very best. Suspenseful and thrilling, this visceral retelling will capture the romance and warmth of the classic to mark his bicentenary, especially for next Christmas on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One.

MO