Drama

Channel 4 Drama is committed to being the most innovative, high-profile drama commissioning department in the UK. Taking on new work from the best established and emerging writers, our role is to be a surprising, thought-provoking, entertaining alternative to the drama shown on other channels and platforms.
 
We encourage talent to come to us with their most original work. The result is a rich and versatile output, whether in the form of a provocative contemporary drama like Jack Thorne’s BAFTA-winning National Treasure, a radical take on the police procedural as in the case of Paul Abbot’s series No Offence, or a sci-fi drama with the scale and sophistication of Humans.
 
An important part of our ethos in Drama is to encourage audiences to look at the world through a different lens. In terms of C4 and E4, our output encompasses a wide range of work across these two platforms. This year on C4, alongside our continuing series (Hollyoaks), we have brand new drama in the shape of Electric Dreams, an ambitious Amazon co-production that sees the stories of Philip K Dick adapted by some of the UK and the US’s most exciting talent; Loaded, an original comedy-drama by Jon Brown; and Born To Kill, a haunting psychological thriller mini-series about family and psychopathy in a rural town. Ackley Bridge, a new series set in a multicultural academy in Yorkshire, is our first 8pm drama since The Mill.
 
On E4 our objective is to commission three original series a year. We aim to continue our legacy of making the freshest and most talked about drama - with the likes of Gap Year, The End Of The F***ing World and our conceptually and technically ground-breaking adaptation Kiss Me First from Bryan Elsley, creator of Skins.

Discovering and nurturing new and diverse talent remains a huge priority for us. Each year we run or sponsor a number of new talent development programmes (4STORIES, 4SCREENWRITING, THE CHANNEL 4 PLAYWRIGHT SCHEME and THE CHANNEL4 & NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY WRITING FOR TV AWARDS). Authorship is everything for C4 drama, so developing original voices in writing and film-making, as well as giving established talent the opportunity to work in a bespoke way, will always sit at the centre of what we do. You can find out more about those schemes by visiting our 4NEW WRITERS webpage.
 
We are always excited to receive submissions from new writers, however these must be submitted via an agent or production company. Please direct all submissions to Isabella De Rosario. Unfortunately Channel 4 cannot accept unsolicited scripts from members of the public other than via the 4SCREENWRITING and 4STORIES initiatives. Please allow 28 days for us to come back to you with a response.