Fans of the horror genre will be pleased to know that BBC3 looks set to give them something scary to enjoy in the dark winter weeks ahead.
At today’s Winter/Spring BBC3 launch, BBC controller of drama commissioning Ben Stephenson assured me that, as a big fan of horror, I am going to like Pulse, which is written by Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell and stars Claire Foy, who previously starred in Little Dorrit for the BBC.
Pulse, according to the BBC’s blurb, is set in a teaching hospital, which is home to some of the UK’s most promising trainee doctors:
But beneath its veneer of medical normality lies a secret network of dangerous experiments, pushing back the boundaries of science with potentially horrifying consequences
Now, I was a big fan of E4’s Dead Set, which, for a TV series, managed to be pretty gruesome and dark, and really provided for those who like their series a little more on the edgy side.
So I can only hope that BBC3 follows Dead Set’s lead to make sure that Pulse does something similar, and gives horror fans, who I often think are under-served by British television, something to get their teeth stuck in to.
The drama is planned as a one-off at the moment, and will run alongside two other pilots commissioned by BBC3, including a drama called Dappers from Mamma Mia! writer Catherine Johnson, and another from Leo Richardson called Stanley Park.
Neither of these is a horror (although Dappers is about two two single mothers living in Bristol — which sounds scary in itself) and I can only hope that that Pulse proves to be a hit, and that the BBC commission it for a full series.
Foy has already proved herself to be a good actress, so I am sure there will be an appetite among viewers to see more of her, if not more blood and gore.
Moving on to other programming highlights at today’s launch, viewers can expect to see a lot more of Russell Tovey in the next few weeks, not just because he is set to appear in two BBC3 shows, but also because he bares rather a lot on camera too.
As the press assembled at the winter and spring launch today saw, the second series of Being Human included shots of a nude Tovey waking up in a wood after a stint as a werewolf.
I can only imagine how cold he must have been on the damp floor of a muddy wood, but being the professional he is, I am sure Tovey didn’t complain once.
Which is why he has found himself being a BBC3 favourite, and landing a part in the comedy Young Lazy and Unemployed.
In this Tovey stars as a young man who, according to the publicity for the show, “has no desire to seek employment”.
The comedy is being made by Big Talk Productions, which counts Spaced among its credits, so it looks like it could be well worth a watch.
Another that seems worth looking out for is The Gemma Factor, about a young woman hoping to become famous before she is 21.
According to PR for the show, Gemma is supported in her dream by “her high-camp friend Jeff”, and is so keen to make it she gets involved with an agent who has a criminal record for allegedly selling a panto dancer into the white slave trade.
Not much was made of this show at today’s launch, but it sounds like it has the potential to be funny.
That said, so did Horne and Corden, which was announced this time last year. And look what happened there.
Photo: BBC/Todd Anthony
Some of my favourite books as a child were the "Gemma" series by Noel Stretfield. In them, Gemma was a film star - co-incidence or the writer's childhood memories
I saw Daybreakers at a screening and thought it was an awesome sci-fi thriller/ great vampire movie