BBC3 is to conduct a major social experiment about rape and a series of programmes focusing on racism and gender as it gears up for its proposed transition to online only.
Is This Rape? Sex on Trial will follow a group of teenagers as they spend two days being tested via a drama on what they think about sexual consent and what their understanding of rape is.
The programme is part of a series of shows about gender, which is one of the key themes for BBC3’s shows after, as proposed, its broadcast signal is turned off in January next year.
Also on the cards are films about far-right party Britain First, The Ku Klux Klan, a visit to Ferguson a year after the death of Michael Brown, presented by Reggie Yates and an investigation into racial prejudices on the streets of Britain.
BBC3 will also air The Worst Things I Have Ever been Called, a new piece of short-form that will simply demonstrate first-person examples of some of the abuse directed at people.
The shows are a counter to those who think that moving online might make BBC3 dumb down.
Its reputation for challenging material will remain, as will its forthright titles, with shows including Britain’s Biggest Sexists and Footballers’ Sex Secrets.
There will also be a new drama-documentary about the murder of Breck Bednar, a 14-year-old schoolboy who was lured to his death after being groomed online by Lewis Daynes
As well as the hard-hitting factual shows, there will be entertainment programmes, such as amateur film competition The Fear.
Speaking at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, BBC3 controller Damian Kavanagh said the channel is aiming for mid-January to switch online and that “we just cannot afford to keep the channel open for longer”.
He said he does not know what will happen if the BBC Trust asks it to stay open for longer, saying “money will have to come from somewhere”.
A lot of money will be spent on marketing to tell audiences about the move to online.
Kavanagh also said he was looking for more one-off documentaries and films about excess. Around £10m is budgeted for serious factual programmes and £10m on comedy.
He commented: “This is a period of unprecedented change for media and particularly media for young people. I want BBC3 at the forefront of this change, providing content that is relevant to young people in a format they want at a time of their choosing. I want us to make content for young people that makes them think about the world around them and raises the issues that matter to them. I also want new BBC3 to entertain and make them laugh.”
Kavanagh also gave a preview of how the new BBC3 will look online, with sections including the Daily Drop, a working title for a section that has content billed as Make Me Laugh or Make Me Think.
The content will be a mix of short-form, longer pieces and items from other areas of the BBC such as sport and news.
The second element Kavanagh said will be a ‘best of’ area, where viewers can see all the different related content around a specific show pulled together in one place.
He denied that talent and good ideas are not coming to him due to the proposal to move online.
“It would concern me if I was experiencing that but I’m not,” he said, adding: “I’m getting good ideas and good talent.
“I’ve got £30m to spend on 16- to 34-year-olds.”
He also denied that the BBC had not done enough to look at alternatives to closing down the broadcast channel, such as selling it to producers Jon Thoday and Jimmy Mulville. “I think everything we’ve done everything is in public domain and shared with people … we can’t sell the programmes … we are not for sale.”
