BBC Studios Digital Brands has unveiled a new slate of original digital programming.
The slate is led by new entertainment video podcast The Girls Are Talking, alongside creator-led travel series Scran & Scramble: An American in Scotland, and includes two new Top Gear YouTube channels, Top Gear Tech and Top Gear Challenges, and newly launched family original The Rewinderz.
The shows are commissioned by Digital Director for Content, Chris Allen, and Group Digital Director for Portfolio, Madi Woodstock.
Jasmine Dawson, SVP Digital, BBC Studios, said: “Our starting point is always the audience. On digital platforms, people increasingly come together around the things they’re passionate about, and that gives us an opportunity to think differently about how we develop content. We can build new formats around those communities, bring creators with genuine credibility into established brands and create entirely new IP. For advertisers, those same communities are incredibly valuable. This slate gives brands more opportunities to align with premium content that audiences are actively choosing to watch and engage with, whether that’s entertainment, automotive and technology, travel or family.”
The Girls Are Talking is a new video podcast “where no topic is off limits and no two opinions are the same, bringing the glossy, high-energy feel of daytime TV to a digital-first generation.”
The show features together pop star Keisha Buchanan, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Kamille, content creator and author Tara Thorpe, radio presenter Issra Wiheba, and comedian Sharifa Butterfly who have “candid and unfiltered conversations about life, fame, money, womanhood, dating, resilience and identity.”
Launching in autumn 2026, The Girls Are Talking was developed by Shukri Dirie and Hannah Wesson, and is a BBC Studios Audio Production, produced by Leanne Alie.
Scran & Scramble: An American in Scotland is a creator-led travel series for The Travel Edit channel, following American creator Kobie (@Kjordy) as he explores Scotland beyond the stereotypes alongside Scottish creator Bryan Millar Walker.
Launching this autumn, the five-part series “blends humour, discovery and cinematic storytelling and takes audiences through some of Scotland’s most striking scenery and lesser-known destinations.”
Developed by Chris Ambrose and produced by Aurora Media Worldwide, the 5 x 22-minute format combines creator personality with premium travel storytelling designed specifically for digital audiences.
BBC Studios Digital Brands is expanding Top Gear’s digital proposition. Launching in September, Top Gear Tech is a new YouTube channel dedicated to the rapidly evolving world of technology. From EVs and robots to gadgets and emerging technologies, the channel will combine trusted reporting and reviews with stories about the innovations shaping how we live and move.
Hosted by presenter, journalist and content creator Jack Scarlett, Top Gear Tech will launch with fortnightly 20-minute features, supported by short-form content across the wider Top Gear digital ecosystem. The new proposition builds on Top Gear’s existing success covering technology on TopGear.com and Apple News+, while extending the brand beyond its core automotive audience to tech and STEM enthusiasts.
This will be followed in October by Top Gear Challenges, a new entertainment-led YouTube channel bringing Top Gear’s trademark ambition and automotive credibility to bigger stunts, challenges and creator collaborations.
Hosted by Top Gear Editor-in-Chief Jack Rix, the monthly 30–60-minute films “will ask the kind of questions only Top Gear would attempt to answer – from whether a supercar can outrun a golf ball to whether you can drive a full-size LEGO car in the real world.”
The new channels build on Top Gear’s always-on digital formats, including First Looks, which gives audiences early access to the newest and most talked-about cars through in-depth analysis, opinion and authoritative reviews, generating 19 million views and 1.5 million watch hours in 2025, and First Drives, which combines in-depth reviews, exclusive interviews and Top Gear’s distinctive take on the latest releases, delivering 21 million views and 1.8 million watch hours in 2025.
The slate also includes newly launched The Rewinderz, an original music-led family format created specifically for YouTube and available on BBC Studios Digital Brands’ Bopple Junior channel.
Hosted by children’s educator MC Grammar, alongside dancer Starr Kiely and comedian Watson D. Hirschfield, the series follows a time-travelling crew on adventures through Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Ice Age, the Golden Age of Pirates and more.
Combining original pop music, dance, games and storytelling, the series is designed to encourage children aged 4–8 and their families to move, participate and learn together. The talent brings a combined social reach of more than nine million followers.
The series will also be supported by BBC Learning Hub in the U.S. to help extend the series into classrooms, after-school clubs and home learning environments.
The 10 x 4-minute series was developed by Hannah Wesson and John Knowles, and produced by Strawberry Blond, with CGI, VFX and Animation from The Berry.
Jon Creamer
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