91Èȱ¬

This is a unique moment for conversations about religion, ethics and spirituality; the UK's religious landscape is changing but appetite for content in this area is undiminished, so how can we respond to our audiences' needs and attract new viewers?

We want you to think about how we can explore questions of morality, meaning and belief from a range of perspectives and use a moral or ethical lens to tackle some of the biggest questions of the day. Religion and ethics can be embedded in any conversation, genre or story, so whether reflecting a particular faith, an ethical question or spirituality more broadly, how can we produce content that grabs the attention of audiences – whether they follow a particular belief system or not?

Our titles need to feel ambitious and timely, with a very clear purpose.

Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers is a great example of this. Pairing well-loved talent with unique access enabled us to explore significant questions around death and end of life in a way that held the viewers’ attention, despite many of us finding the subject uncomfortable. Stacey brought her trademark candour and humour to the subject in a way that resonated with viewers, making this the top-rated religion single of the last five years. Stacey brought both secular and faith perspectives together around a subject that is universal. How can we do more of this, providing content that will appeal to both people of faith and those who may not follow one particular belief system?

When thinking about topicality, what are the major moments that religion and ethics has a clear role in exploring? Big Gay Wedding with Tom Allen for 91Èȱ¬ One marks 10 years since same-sex marriage was legalised. The film brings well-loved talent to contemporary history. Through the uplifting present-tense story of Tom planning one young couple’s big day (duly studded with celebs along the way), he explores the history of how we’ve got to this moment, offering a funny, entertaining and thought-provoking look at a momentous shift in contemporary culture.

Current opportunities

We commission singles, formats and series and we want titles that are likely to have a strong performance on iPlayer as well as on linear. To help do that, think about tone and talent.

Tonally, programmes can be very wide-ranging: from light-hearted and warm, to challenging and thought-provoking (think of the range of recent titles such as I’m An Alcoholic: Inside Recovery to The Mormons Are Coming to The Holy Land and Us: Our Untold Stories). When thinking of talent, well-loved names who may be famous in one particular area bringing their personal take on faith and belief is always appealing, such as Big Zuu Goes To Mecca for 91Èȱ¬ Two.

Thinking ahead, how might we bring more humour and comedy to the slate? Treating subjects which can be seen as serious in a light-hearted way, but still with clear purpose, could engage a new audience with the genre. Or is there a national story, old or new, which has wide recognition but could be told in a new way? Could this scale up to create a bingeable box set for iPlayer?

We also want to take risks and be bold with the religion and ethics slate. The two-part series The Holy Land and Us: Our Untold Stories took a bold and unique approach by bringing British Jewish and Palestinian stories together. The films helped to humanise the issues at the heart of one of society's most contentious subjects.

Authored singles

We want ambitious singles that use faith and religion to deal with difficult questions or conversations, and where the morals and ethics of an issue or situation are brought to the fore. Pairing well-loved talent with a new or counterintuitive subject is a great way to bring an audience to singles on iPlayer, but these need to be rooted in a first-person experience or question.

Humza: Forgiving the Unforgivable is an example of great talent authoring a film with a personal, first-person perspective that enables wider questions about meaning, purpose and forgiveness to be explored. Similarly, Big Zuu Goes To Mecca sees the much-loved chef and rapper in a completely new environment, asking some challenging questions about his faith.

What are the next big subjects we could bring to life? These could be about difficult moral and ethical choices based on an unfolding narrative, or centred around great talent with a personal story that could help get us into some of these bigger questions.

Access to hidden worlds

Two of our break-out successes on iPlayer have been Inside the Bruderhof and The Mormons Are Coming. These films offered unprecedented access to a hidden world with young characters at their heart. Both titles performed exceptionally well on the platform.

When thinking beyond singles, how can we scale up access to series or boxsets? What are the different approaches we can take? The two examples above focus on present-tense stories, but could we gain access to a past-tense story, something with national recognition, which can be told in a new and surprising way using brilliant archive and testimony at its heart? Could this sustain several episodes?

When thinking about singles, Two Daughters and I'm An Alcoholic: Inside Recovery offer different examples of access that can work well for us. Two Daughters gave us the opportunity to delve behind the headlines of a contemporary, national story. I’m An Alcoholic: Inside Recovery brought access to a world-famous organisations rooted in religion. Each film tackles social issues close to audiences’ hearts.

Series with impact

Our series across two or more parts explore definitive moments through a cultural, political or religious lens, such as The Holy Land and Us: Our Untold Stories.

They can also be returning brands like Pilgrimage, which takes a factual entertainment approach and is building year on year. As well as a loyal linear audience, dropping all three episodes on iPlayer at once has grown its performance on the platform, with people coming for episode one and staying to watch all three. Thinking carefully about talent and how the group might dig into the important questions we all care about is a key part of the series’ success.

What subjects or approaches can we explore that are both provocative – with difficult or complex questions at their heart - and have a clear purpose driving the narrative? Are there styles or approaches from other genres that could work well for this subject-matter, such as the documentary team’s Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland or factual entertainment’s Race Across The World?

Faith in everyday life

Another crucially important element of the religion and ethics slate is the faith films on 91Èȱ¬ One, which reflect communities and individuals from across Britain's major faiths.

The most recent iterations have been the five-part series A Believer's Guide to... and Love, Faith and Me.

Each film explores significant life moments through five of the major faiths, with the overall ambition of showing the universality of these human experiences and what faith can bring to them. Having created five-part boxsets in this space over the last three years, next year we are looking to commission five individual films which could sit apart from one another. Indies could pitch for one or more of these films. What are some of the key questions or issues facing faith communities across the generations in modern Britain? What could and should we be shining a light on?

Co-commissions

A priority for us is stories which could work well for co-commissioning partnerships with teams in the Nations. We have had some great success with Nations co-commissions such as Different League: The Derry City Story with 91Èȱ¬ Northern Ireland and two series of Scotland’s Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle with 91Èȱ¬ Scotland. These were centred around questions at the heart of specific communities but with themes and stories that resonated with viewers across the UK. Universality through a single point of entry and glorious locations explored in a new way were the keys to the success of both these examples.

We also co-commissioned the three-part series Gareth Malone’s Easter Passion with 91Èȱ¬ Wales to mark the 300th anniversary of Bach’s St John Passion. The series sees Gareth bringing together eight amateur singers to perform the St John Passion alongside the 91Èȱ¬ Singers and the 91Èȱ¬ National Orchestra of Wales. It seamlessly weaves together Biblical story, musical history and the journeys of the novice singers across three episodes and is a great example of religious themes and questions being integrated into different genres to appeal to a wider range of viewers.

What new stories might work well as a single or two-parter and can appeal to both Nations and Network audiences?

Is there a new series for religion that might work for both Nations and Network, allowing us to get to know a cast of characters across a high-volume series, while exploring some of life’s biggest questions?

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.