Current affairs commissioning

We’re the home of exciting new journalism that examines the biggest topics and reflects the world of our audience. To reach the broadest audiences we want stories with storylines or elements that are unexpected and surprising - compelling revelation has to be at the heart of all our content.

Panorama

Panorama is the BBC’s award-winning, flagship current affairs strand with a global reputation for revealing the truth about stories that matter, and an emphasis on challenging and ambitious investigative journalism.

We’re looking for journalistically ambitious films that deliver genuine revelation and can make an impact on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC’s news outlets. The stories need to reflect and be relevant to a broad and diverse audience, with a wide-ranging and varied mix of topics, tones, formats and talent.

Ideas for Panorama should be pitched to Adam Grimley via PiCoS.

We have opportunities for a range of short series and singles on BBC Two and Three which also need to work well on iPlayer.

We're interested in:

Important stories

Everything we commission for BBC Two and iPlayer needs to fulfil two roles:

First, it needs to have the qualities to deliver outstanding impact on iPlayer: a great title, an iconic image, a simple and focussed audience proposition. It should use action, narrative or journalism to generate an instantly attractive and innovative product which offers real value to the audience across the UK, reflecting and harnessing their changing interests and need for new viewer experiences. To that end, we are also looking for opportunities to proliferate the longform content we commission from you as shorter YouTube content as well.

Second, it needs to have the potential to make headlines and news - to appear on the BBC News platform as bulletin pieces, written online pieces or social. Underlying this, your idea needs to offer rich new insight or context about our complex and changing world. The best ideas for us are underpinned by fresh journalistic endeavour. For example, unflinching and impartial systemic analysis, especially in areas which relate to public policy; or revealing new testimony which challenges perceptions.

The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice attracted large audiences on iPlayer and introduced them to a fresh journalistic investigation based on newly examined material surrounding the notorious case.

Britain’s Forgotten Girls was a hard-hitting investigative film detailing the systematic grooming and sexual exploitation of young girls by organised drug networks, prioritising first-person survivor accounts and whistleblower testimony, and examined institutional indifference and failure of state safeguarding.

Thames Water: Inside the Crisis offered the audience privileged and unrivalled access to the UK’s biggest water company while it was caught in a storm of controversy. Complete with journalistic challenge, it unpacked the true complexity of the situation from the ground up.

Films for young audiences

We are seeking single-narrative stories with fresh journalism and revelation for younger audiences on BBC Three and iPlayer. These films need to grab the attention of 16-34s in the UK and drive clicks with storytelling that reflects the biggest issues facing young Brits today.

We have seen how single-narrative, stranger-than-fiction stories with scandal and twists and turns really cut through with young audiences, and we want to find new and original stories in this space. As audience behaviour rapidly shifts, we need innovative ways to tell our stories beyond traditional reporter-led films, which can struggle to make an impact on iPlayer

Stories should have taken place in the last five years and have original journalism at their heart. They should provide new insight into the subject and add to the audience’s understanding of current issues.

Ideas should come with a ‘hook’ that resonates with young audiences in Britain today, whether that’s through a modern-world precinct, a compelling protagonist, the theme or the timely questions the story asks. For example, The Dangerous Rise of Andrew Tate speaks to a topic this audience are actively discussing and debating.

We’d love to see fresh testimony or details revealed for the first time. Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal is a single-narrative story that reveals details and footage of the case that hadn’t been seen before and Who Stole Tamara Ecclestone’s Diamonds also has excellent access to those at the heart of the case.

As we saw with Liar: The Fake Grooming Scandal, rooting the story in the sights and sounds of a particular community or region of the UK can help draw in an audience, but isn’t essential.

Alongside films on high-profile individuals and headline-grabbing cases, we also want to ensure that we are commissioning films that show the reality of life in the UK today for our audience and highlight the daily challenges and issues they face.

Unscripted on iPlayer

Read about how we commission unscripted content in an iPlayer first-world, along with advice and further resources to maximise the impact of your programme on the platform.