Guest Author - Lauren Evans

Over the next few months, we have a fresh batch of newly commissioned programmes to look forward to, as Channel 4, ITV and BBC get behind a range of new shows due to air later this year.

The BBC offering is perhaps the most unlikely, with BBC One Daytime commissioning Australian drama serial “Out of the Blue”. The series is based around a group of 30-something friends who meet up for a high school reunion, and follows the ups and downs of the group as they reconcile past differences and dramas. When a member of the group turns up dead, the rest of the gang find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation. The programme is due to start on Monday 28th April on BBC One, and sounds to me suspiciously like a mish-mash of Sunset Beach and Diagnosis Murder – I’m still trying to decide whether that’s a good or a bad thing. What is surprising is that it seems the BBC have had a change of heart about Australian daytime serials in the wake of Five’s Neighbours/Home and Away extravaganza – will this new commission redress the balance?

For all fans of Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales in the radio series “The Ladies of Letters…” ITV has a real treat in store for you! ITV has commissioned a 10-part television adaptation of the stories, which will be written by Carole Hayman and Lou Wakefield, creators of the original books and the radio series. The Ladies of Letters are two friends of a certain age, communicating with each other via letters and more recently e-mail. The writing is sharp and witty, and really engages the audience with this long-standing love/hate relationship, from petty bickering and one-upmanship to providing a lifeline in times of serious trouble. What will no doubt come as a slight disappointment to die-hard fans is that the title roles will be played by Maureen Lipman (Educating Rita, The Pianist) and Anne Reid (Hot Fuzz, Dinnerladies), rather than Patricia and Pru. While both are undeniably brilliant comic actresses, I wonder whether they will be able to follow the big footprints left by the radio series.

Finally, Channel 4 brings us something completely different. Charlie Brooker, the scathing TV critic and writer, has penned a horror series called “Dead Set” for E4. Fans of Brooker’s previous work (including a weekly Guardian column and “Nathan Barley”, the comedy series he co-wrote with Chris Morris) will know that he is not afraid to shock; in fact after a (perhaps slightly misjudged) crack about the US president in 2004, he received numerous death threats and was allegedly reported to the US Secret Service by concerned citizens. We can expect then, that he won’t be pulling any punches with this six-part series which is due to air in late 2008. Channel 4 are currently playing their cards close to their chests about the finer details, but have quoted Brooker as saying “Dead Set is very different to anything I’ve done before, and I hope the end result will surprise, entertain and appal people in equal measure”. We wouldn’t expect anything less…

Buy The Ladies of Letters Go Green (Audio CD) at Amazon - Ladies of Letters Go Green: Series 9 (BBC Audio)

Buy The Ladies of Letters Say No (Audio CD) from Amazon - Ladies of Letters Say No (BBC Audio)