BBC Three has announced orders for new sitcom, Peacock, from the People Just Do Nothing team and a fact based drama from the Killed By My Debt team, ahead of BBC3’s return as a linear channel.
Inspired by the accounts of warehouse workers, Life And Death In The Warehouse is a factual-based drama, from BBC Factual.
It tells the fictional story of warehouse worker Alys, whose childhood friend Megan joins the same distribution centre as a trainee manager. In a desperate attempt to keep her new job Megan presses pregnant Alys to get her ‘pick-rate’ up, putting Alys and her baby at risk.
The show comes from the Bafta-winning team behind Killed By My Debt and Murdered by My Father.
Written by new screenwriter Helen Black, the drama brings together cast including Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Megan (Peaky Blinders, The Left Behind, Luther), Poppy Lee Friar as Alys (In My Skin, Ackley Bridge, My Name Is Leon) and Craig Parkinson as Senior Manager Danny (Line Of Duty, Doctor Who, Four Lions).
Additional cast include Kimberley Nixon as manager Donna, Aled ap Steffan as warehouse worker Devon, and Sion Daniel Young as manager Sean.
Fiona Campbell, Controller BBC Three, says: “This factual-based drama will no doubt raise some questions. We know that this is what the best factual programmes do – they help people understand the world they are living in and drive conversation about stories relevant right now.”
Aysha Rafaele, Executive Producer: “We may not think about this, but every time we click for a next day delivery there’s a person at the other end, working in a warehouse to fulfil that need.
“Our latest BBC Three drama shines a light on this terrifying new reality where workers can be constantly surveilled, bullied to keep their pick rates up, every moment of idle time calculated to the second. I hope this film will help raise awareness of the taxing demands many young people are facing in their workplace today.”
Shot in Wales, Life And Death In The Warehouse is directed and created by multi-award-winning Joseph Bullman (Killed By My Debt, The Left Behind) and produced by BBC Studios Drama Productions.
Life And Death In The Warehouse is a 1×60’ factual drama made by BBC Studios Production. It was commissioned by Fiona Campbell, Controller, BBC Three; Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, History and Religion for BBC Three and BBC iPlayer; and by Nick Andrews, Head of Content Commissioning for BBC Wales.
The director is Joseph Bullman, the writer is Helen Black and the producer is Tracie Simpson. The executive producer is Aysha Rafaele. The commissioning editors are Emma Loach for BBC Factual and Julian Carey for BBC Wales.
BBC Three and BBC Comedy have commissioned Peacock, a new three-part comedy series from Big Talk and the writers of People Just Do Nothing.
Written by Steve Stamp and Ben Murray, Peacock is the story of Andy, a personal trainer at Sportif Leisure in the midst of an identity crisis. His world is one of selfies, bravado and gym memberships, where vanity and success are often horribly entangled. When Andy loses out on a job promotion to a younger, better looking PT, he suddenly realises he’s a man out of time. He needs to prove that there’s more to him than his good looks and his well curated dating profile. He sets out to prove that he can be taken seriously. But can he?
Allan ‘Seapa’ Mustafa (People Just Do Nothing) stars as Andy Peacock, Lucien Laviscount (Emily in Paris) as Jay, Thomas Gray (Absolutely Fine) as Spooner, Susan Wokoma (Year of the Rabbit) as Liz, Callie Cooke (The Stranger) as Carly, Mandeep Dhillon (After Life) as Georgia and Sophia Di Martino (Loki) as Blue.
Steve Stamp says: “Clearly I am not someone qualified to write about going to the gym so it’s actually mostly about a bunch of flawed messes struggling to function in the modern world.”
Kenton Allen, Chief Executive of Big Talk says: “Steve and Ben have flexed their award-winning comedy muscles and written a very smart show that means you’ll never step into another gym without thinking about the unique approach to fitness at Sportif Leisure and the soon to be iconic PT, Mr Andy Peacock.”
Fiona Campbell, Controller of BBC Three, says: “People Just Do Nothing was a massive hit for BBC Three so it goes without saying that we couldn’t be happier that we’re working with some of the highly-talented team behind it for their new series Peacock.”
Peacock is a Big Talk production created by Steve Stamp and Ben Murray for BBC Three and BBC iPlayer. The series (3×30’) is directed by Freddie Waters (Waiting) and produced by Lara Singer (Behind The Filter). Executive Producers are Saurabh Kakkar, Kenton Allen, and Matthew Justice for Big Talk. The series has been commissioned by Fiona Campbell for BBC Three and BBC Comedy. Seb Barwell is the Commissioning Editor for the BBC.
BBC Studios are the international distributors. Big Talk is a part of ITV Studios.
The series is currently filming in Liverpool and will air later this year.
Jon Creamer
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