BBC making Britain’s first 3D scripted drama series
The BBC steals a march on Sky 3D with a full 3D drama series – could a BBC 3D channel be on the cards?
Get your 3D glasses ready – the BBC is planning to make Britain’s first 3D scripted drama series as part of a two-year trial into 3D programming.
According to TV trade paper Broadcast, the comedy-drama will be Britain’s first full scripted 3D series – Sky aired a 3D short film as part of its Little Crackers series, but the satellite broadcaster has yet to produce an ongoing scripted drama in 3D.
The BBC’s already aired coverage from Wimbledon and Strictly Come Dancing in 3D, broadcasting 3D programming on the BBC HD channel. But with BBC HD set to become an HD simulcast of BBC Two, could the BBC be preparing to launch a full 3D channel?
Officially, the BBC has no plans in that direction – it’s only planning to broadcast five or six programmes a year in 3D – but once BBC HD becomes BBC Two HD, it’s considering several options.
One option, according to BBC head of 3D Kim Shillinglaw, is to simply switch the BBC Two simulcast over to 3D. Another is to use the iPlayer as a platform for 3D programming – the BBC has already shown some 3D programmes on the catch-up service, and wants to “take that further.”
The final – and most interesting – possibility is to broadcast 3D programming on a temporary BBC 3D channel using spare spectrum capacity. So we could be getting BBC 3D sooner than expected – if only on a temporary basis.
Whatever the case, we want Doctor Who in 3D. And we want it now.
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Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
