C4 marks 25th anniversary with public service landmarks in every genre

24 August 2007

Channel 4 is celebrating its quarter centenary with an autumn season of landmark programmes that would have graced the channel's schedule at any time during its 25 years on air.

To be broadcast in the week of the anniversary on 2nd November, Britz is a two-part thriller written and directed by Peter Kosminsky. The drama is set in post 9/11 Britain and features two young and British-born Muslim siblings, played by Riz Ahmed (The Road to Guantanamo) and Manjinder Virk (Bradford Riots), who find the new anti-terror laws have set their altered lives on a collision course.

Another long-time Channel 4 collaborator, Ken Loach, will also help celebrate the anniversary with his latest drama It's a Free World.... The film follows the story of Angie, who sets up a recruitment agency for immigrant workers and discovers there's easy money to be made for those ready to discount the human cost of their actions.  

The third dramatic landmark for Channel 4's autumn season is Boy A, based on the award-winning novel by Jonathan Trigell. His involvement in the murder of another child means Jack (Andrew Garfield) has spent most of his young life in prison. On his release, as a 24-year-old, a new identity offers him the chance to re-enter society and to discover if redemption is possible for terrible crimes committed in childhood.

Britain is near the bottom of the heap when it comes to recycling and Dumped is on a mission to help us all realise our wasteful habits. Eleven people are set the challenge of living full-time on one of Britain's biggest dumps for three weeks using only other people's rubbish for daily needs including shelter and clothing.

In autumn Channel 4 has scheduled a campaigning season to highlight unacceptable levels of illiteracy amongst children and the long term social cost. Can't Read Can't Write visits a school in one of Britain's most deprived areas where the head teacher has adopted radical measures to end the cycle. In a Dispatches Special, Channel 4 News correspondent Alex Thompson investigates the effectiveness of current teaching methods and Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan lend their support in a peak special Richard & Judy's Best Kids' Books Ever.

Channel 4's Arts and History departments have both commissioned autumn dramas. Award-winning director Penny Woolcock (Tina Goes Shopping, Klinghoffer) renews her longstanding relationship with the channel with Exodus. In this dramatic epic, starring Bernard Hill and a host of local amateurs, the second book of the Old Testament finds contemporary resonances in Margate. The Relief of Belsen, starring Corin and Jemma Redgrave, recreates the heroic medical relief operation after the liberation of the notorious concentration camp.  

Marking 25 years of commissioning the most original comedy on TV, Channel 4 presents a Comedy Showcase of six one-off comedies featuring some of the UK's best established and rising talents, including Stephen Mangan, Martin Freeman and Reece Sheersmith. The IT Crowd returns for a second series and Russell Brand goes solo in front of a studio audience in his new series, Russell Brand's Ponderland.

In This Is Civilisation presenter Matthew Collings takes inspiration from Kenneth Clarke's seminal arts series and embarks on his own global journey to explore the greatest artistic monuments and artefacts in history in a major four-part series.

The award-winning team that made The Dying Rooms, about conditions in China's orphanages, returns 10 years later to film another by-product of China's one-child policy. Dispatches Special: China's Stolen Children follows the trail of the traffickers responsible for kidnapping and selling thousands of China's children.

Sharia Street follows a group of non-Muslims from the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, attempting to live for three weeks following strict Islamic principles to discover what the religion has to offer our culture. Meet the Natives turns the science of social anthropology on its head when five tribesmen from a South Pacific island set out to explore the curious and varied tribes who inhabit the island of Britain.

Additional autumn highlights include:

• Comedy: after an explosive end to its highly popular first outing earlier this year Ugly Betty returns for a second series; and Comedy Lab, which launched the TV careers of Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr, Dom Joly and Russell Brand, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a new series showcasing today's undiscovered talents.
• History and Science: drama-documentary Hindenburg recounts the full story of the giant airship in the 70th anniversary year of its disastrous final voyage; Britain's Deadliest Addictions highlights the personal and social cost of various drugs when it follows three addicts round the clock as they attempt to kick their lethal habit; based on new archaeological findings, Great Wall of China recounts the full history of the most ambitious building project ever attempted; Bringing Up Baby puts theory into practice and road tests the advice of the best-known post-war baby care gurus; and five-part series Love Trap secretly tests five men from across the globe in the art of courtship.
• Factual, Factual Entertainment & Features: Rose d'Or award-winner The Secret Millionaire returns for a second series with a fresh set of millionaire philanthropists going undercover to look for people and groups they could help with a surprise windfall. Millionaires' Mission follows eight wealthy British business leaders as they rise to the challenge set them by a leading charity to use their entrepreneurial skills to help improve living standards in a remote Ugandan village; and in The Wild Gourmets former Masterchef winner/ writer Tommi Miers and outdoorsman/ writer Guy Grieve demonstrate the hidden gastronomic treasures of Britain's rivers, valleys, mountains and hedgerows.
• More4: International documentary strand True Stories showcases the best films from around the world; Channel 4 at 25 (w/t) charts the history of the channel and More4 will also screen a selection of classics from the Channel 4 archive.
• E4: From the makers of Peep Show Dog Face is part sketch show, part animation; and Get Me the Producer, featuring former BBC TV Director General Greg Dyke, is a six-part series commissioned by the channel's education department in which aspiring young producers compete for a contract working in TV.

Channel 4 is celebrating its quarter centenary with an autumn season of landmark programmes that would have graced the channel's schedule at any time during its 25 years on air.

To be broadcast in the week of the anniversary on 2nd November, Britz is a two-part thriller written and directed by Peter Kosminsky. The drama is set in post 9/11 Britain and features two young and British-born Muslim siblings, played by Riz Ahmed (The Road to Guantanamo) and Manjinder Virk (Bradford Riots), who find the new anti-terror laws have set their altered lives on a collision course.

Another long-time Channel 4 collaborator, Ken Loach, will also help celebrate the anniversary with his latest drama It's a Free World.... The film follows the story of Angie, who sets up a recruitment agency for immigrant workers and discovers there's easy money to be made for those ready to discount the human cost of their actions.  

The third dramatic landmark for Channel 4's autumn season is Boy A, based on the award-winning novel by Jonathan Trigell. His involvement in the murder of another child means Jack (Andrew Garfield) has spent most of his young life in prison. On his release, as a 24-year-old, a new identity offers him the chance to re-enter society and to discover if redemption is possible for terrible crimes committed in childhood.

Britain is near the bottom of the heap when it comes to recycling and Dumped is on a mission to help us all realise our wasteful habits. Eleven people are set the challenge of living full-time on one of Britain's biggest dumps for three weeks using only other people's rubbish for daily needs including shelter and clothing.

In autumn Channel 4 has scheduled a campaigning season to highlight unacceptable levels of illiteracy amongst children and the long term social cost. Can't Read Can't Write visits a school in one of Britain's most deprived areas where the head teacher has adopted radical measures to end the cycle. In a Dispatches Special, Channel 4 News correspondent Alex Thompson investigates the effectiveness of current teaching methods and Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan lend their support in a peak special Richard & Judy's Best Kids' Books Ever.

Channel 4's Arts and History departments have both commissioned autumn dramas. Award-winning director Penny Woolcock (Tina Goes Shopping, Klinghoffer) renews her longstanding relationship with the channel with Exodus. In this dramatic epic, starring Bernard Hill and a host of local amateurs, the second book of the Old Testament finds contemporary resonances in Margate. The Relief of Belsen, starring Corin and Jemma Redgrave, recreates the heroic medical relief operation after the liberation of the notorious concentration camp.  

Marking 25 years of commissioning the most original comedy on TV, Channel 4 presents a Comedy Showcase of six one-off comedies featuring some of the UK's best established and rising talents, including Stephen Mangan, Martin Freeman and Reece Sheersmith. The IT Crowd returns for a second series and Russell Brand goes solo in front of a studio audience in his new series, Russell Brand's Ponderland.

In This Is Civilisation presenter Matthew Collings takes inspiration from Kenneth Clarke's seminal arts series and embarks on his own global journey to explore the greatest artistic monuments and artefacts in history in a major four-part series.

The award-winning team that made The Dying Rooms, about conditions in China's orphanages, returns 10 years later to film another by-product of China's one-child policy. Dispatches Special: China's Stolen Children follows the trail of the traffickers responsible for kidnapping and selling thousands of China's children.

Sharia Street follows a group of non-Muslims from the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, attempting to live for three weeks following strict Islamic principles to discover what the religion has to offer our culture. Meet the Natives turns the science of social anthropology on its head when five tribesmen from a South Pacific island set out to explore the curious and varied tribes who inhabit the island of Britain.

Additional autumn highlights include:

• Comedy: after an explosive end to its highly popular first outing earlier this year Ugly Betty returns for a second series; and Comedy Lab, which launched the TV careers of Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr, Dom Joly and Russell Brand, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a new series showcasing today's undiscovered talents.
• History and Science: drama-documentary Hindenburg recounts the full story of the giant airship in the 70th anniversary year of its disastrous final voyage; Britain's Deadliest Addictions highlights the personal and social cost of various drugs when it follows three addicts round the clock as they attempt to kick their lethal habit; based on new archaeological findings, Great Wall of China recounts the full history of the most ambitious building project ever attempted; Bringing Up Baby puts theory into practice and road tests the advice of the best-known post-war baby care gurus; and five-part series Love Trap secretly tests five men from across the globe in the art of courtship.
• Factual, Factual Entertainment & Features: Rose d'Or award-winner The Secret Millionaire returns for a second series with a fresh set of millionaire philanthropists going undercover to look for people and groups they could help with a surprise windfall. Millionaires' Mission follows eight wealthy British business leaders as they rise to the challenge set them by a leading charity to use their entrepreneurial skills to help improve living standards in a remote Ugandan village; and in The Wild Gourmets former Masterchef winner/ writer Tommi Miers and outdoorsman/ writer Guy Grieve demonstrate the hidden gastronomic treasures of Britain's rivers, valleys, mountains and hedgerows.
• More4: International documentary strand True Stories showcases the best films from around the world; Channel 4 at 25 (w/t) charts the history of the channel and More4 will also screen a selection of classics from the Channel 4 archive.
• E4: From the makers of Peep Show Dog Face is part sketch show, part animation; and Get Me the Producer, featuring former BBC TV Director General Greg Dyke, is a six-part series commissioned by the channel's education department in which aspiring young producers compete for a contract working in TV.

Channel 4 is celebrating its quarter centenary with an autumn season of landmark programmes that would have graced the channel's schedule at any time during its 25 years on air.

To be broadcast in the week of the anniversary on 2nd November, Britz is a two-part thriller written and directed by Peter Kosminsky. The drama is set in post 9/11 Britain and features two young and British-born Muslim siblings, played by Riz Ahmed (The Road to Guantanamo) and Manjinder Virk (Bradford Riots), who find the new anti-terror laws have set their altered lives on a collision course.

Another long-time Channel 4 collaborator, Ken Loach, will also help celebrate the anniversary with his latest drama It's a Free World.... The film follows the story of Angie, who sets up a recruitment agency for immigrant workers and discovers there's easy money to be made for those ready to discount the human cost of their actions.  

The third dramatic landmark for Channel 4's autumn season is Boy A, based on the award-winning novel by Jonathan Trigell. His involvement in the murder of another child means Jack (Andrew Garfield) has spent most of his young life in prison. On his release, as a 24-year-old, a new identity offers him the chance to re-enter society and to discover if redemption is possible for terrible crimes committed in childhood.

Britain is near the bottom of the heap when it comes to recycling and Dumped is on a mission to help us all realise our wasteful habits. Eleven people are set the challenge of living full-time on one of Britain's biggest dumps for three weeks using only other people's rubbish for daily needs including shelter and clothing.

In autumn Channel 4 has scheduled a campaigning season to highlight unacceptable levels of illiteracy amongst children and the long term social cost. Can't Read Can't Write visits a school in one of Britain's most deprived areas where the head teacher has adopted radical measures to end the cycle. In a Dispatches Special, Channel 4 News correspondent Alex Thompson investigates the effectiveness of current teaching methods and Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan lend their support in a peak special Richard & Judy's Best Kids' Books Ever.

Channel 4's Arts and History departments have both commissioned autumn dramas. Award-winning director Penny Woolcock (Tina Goes Shopping, Klinghoffer) renews her longstanding relationship with the channel with Exodus. In this dramatic epic, starring Bernard Hill and a host of local amateurs, the second book of the Old Testament finds contemporary resonances in Margate. The Relief of Belsen, starring Corin and Jemma Redgrave, recreates the heroic medical relief operation after the liberation of the notorious concentration camp.  

Marking 25 years of commissioning the most original comedy on TV, Channel 4 presents a Comedy Showcase of six one-off comedies featuring some of the UK's best established and rising talents, including Stephen Mangan, Martin Freeman and Reece Sheersmith. The IT Crowd returns for a second series and Russell Brand goes solo in front of a studio audience in his new series, Russell Brand's Ponderland.

In This Is Civilisation presenter Matthew Collings takes inspiration from Kenneth Clarke's seminal arts series and embarks on his own global journey to explore the greatest artistic monuments and artefacts in history in a major four-part series.

The award-winning team that made The Dying Rooms, about conditions in China's orphanages, returns 10 years later to film another by-product of China's one-child policy. Dispatches Special: China's Stolen Children follows the trail of the traffickers responsible for kidnapping and selling thousands of China's children.

Sharia Street follows a group of non-Muslims from the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, attempting to live for three weeks following strict Islamic principles to discover what the religion has to offer our culture. Meet the Natives turns the science of social anthropology on its head when five tribesmen from a South Pacific island set out to explore the curious and varied tribes who inhabit the island of Britain.

Additional autumn highlights include:

• Comedy: after an explosive end to its highly popular first outing earlier this year Ugly Betty returns for a second series; and Comedy Lab, which launched the TV careers of Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr, Dom Joly and Russell Brand, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a new series showcasing today's undiscovered talents.
• History and Science: drama-documentary Hindenburg recounts the full story of the giant airship in the 70th anniversary year of its disastrous final voyage; Britain's Deadliest Addictions highlights the personal and social cost of various drugs when it follows three addicts round the clock as they attempt to kick their lethal habit; based on new archaeological findings, Great Wall of China recounts the full history of the most ambitious building project ever attempted; Bringing Up Baby puts theory into practice and road tests the advice of the best-known post-war baby care gurus; and five-part series Love Trap secretly tests five men from across the globe in the art of courtship.
• Factual, Factual Entertainment & Features: Rose d'Or award-winner The Secret Millionaire returns for a second series with a fresh set of millionaire philanthropists going undercover to look for people and groups they could help with a surprise windfall. Millionaires' Mission follows eight wealthy British business leaders as they rise to the challenge set them by a leading charity to use their entrepreneurial skills to help improve living standards in a remote Ugandan village; and in The Wild Gourmets former Masterchef winner/ writer Tommi Miers and outdoorsman/ writer Guy Grieve demonstrate the hidden gastronomic treasures of Britain's rivers, valleys, mountains and hedgerows.
• More4: International documentary strand True Stories showcases the best films from around the world; Channel 4 at 25 (w/t) charts the history of the channel and More4 will also screen a selection of classics from the Channel 4 archive.
• E4: From the makers of Peep Show Dog Face is part sketch show, part animation; and Get Me the Producer, featuring former BBC TV Director General Greg Dyke, is a six-part series commissioned by the channel's education department in which aspiring young producers compete for a contract working in TV.