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Science is at the heart of many of the biggest and also the most controversial stories in our lives today. From the environment, to ground-breaking medical breakthroughs, to the debates raging around AI and misinformation, science can bring new light to the urgent questions we’re all grappling with.

So there’s an opportunity to make science shows that can sit alongside the biggest titles on iPlayer and the global streamers. But we’re also looking for ideas that are uniquely British, that surprise and delight our viewers and provoke debate across the UK. From the very first pitch we need to think about how an idea can cut through on iPlayer and create enough buzz on social media to rise to the top of the iPlayer page.

We’re focusing on six areas:

1. World class access

We want to give viewers privileged access to the most exciting, ground-breaking science and technology stories in the world: the bigger and more pioneering the better. We don’t just want stories that are in the news, we want stories that can make the news. And we want to tell these stories in new and exciting ways.

For example, Attenborough and The Giant Sea Monster hinged around exclusive access to the extraordinary excavation of a giant pliosaur skull from a cliff-face on Dorset’s Jurassic coast. It generated headlines around the world and on social media, brought in 4.4 million viewers, and lead to the discovery of a new species of pliosaur.

So that’s the level and the scale of the ambition: stories that can make the front page of the newspaper.

It’s worth thinking about:

• Amazing space missions like , which has privileged access to NASA’s first attempt to send astronauts to the moon in 50 years, including the first woman and first person of colour to walk on the lunar surface.
• Unique access to huge engineering projects like The Mayfair Hotel Megabuild.
• A unique entry point into ground-breaking medical trials such as The Parkinson’s Drug Trial: A Miracle Cure?.
• Access to stories we haven’t heard before. These could be from high-level experts or insiders who perhaps haven’t previously spoken publicly, like the incredible cast assembled for history’s 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room.

2. Thrilling narratives

Science stories can be a thrilling, emotional ride. We want ideas that can make great bingeable series on iPlayer. We're therefore particularly interested in compelling stories that can be told over multiple episodes, with enough plot twists, thrills and cliff-hangers to keep viewers watching to the last frame. If you have a gripping high impact single film that you feel would do this we’d like to hear about it.

They might be amazing true crime or past tense stories that have a scientific or environmental angle. For example Murder in the Pacific, which tells the shocking story of the fatal bombing of Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior. Or they might be disaster stories – for example natural disasters, power station failures or infamous crashes. Or they might be the stories behind major scientific breakthroughs or particularly significant trials.

Privileged access to the inner circles of iconic figures can also work well on iPlayer. The Elon Musk Show from our history team unpacked the story of one of the world's most controversial technology pioneers through intimate interviews with those closest to him. Who else from the worlds of science and tech is worthy of this kind of unvarnished, revelatory biography?

Whatever the type of story remember it needs to stand out against all the competition from gripping dramas and blockbuster entertainment shows on iPlayer and other platforms. We need to be constantly looking for a new angle or an amazing new piece of access to make these stories a must watch.

3. Distinctive brands

We’re always looking for the next stand out brand: a returning format that we can commission in volume, that viewers become familiar with and can keep coming back to on iPlayer.

The bar here is high. We’ve had great success in the medical space with Surgeons: At the Edge of Life, Inside the Factory continues to be an audience favourite, DNA Family Secrets uses DNA technology to unlock dramatic emotional stories and The Secret Genius of Modern Life looks at the amazing tales of invention behind the everyday tech in our homes and pockets. Therefore any new ideas need to be in a different space to these.

It might be worth thinking about consumer science, popular health, or food. Or tell us about another great area we haven’t cracked.

4. Epic blue-chip science

In an increasingly competitive video-on-demand market big stories with big production values are at a premium. Better still, combining epic storytelling with mind-blowing science makes our blue-chip series truly distinctive. We’re seeing mass audiences flock to titles that take an incredibly deep dive into the type of specialist science you rarely see elsewhere.

For example, Earth told the dramatic 4.5 billion year history of our planet and was produced in consultation with over 200 scientists from specialisms including geology, climatology and palaeontology to give as detailed and nuanced telling of the story as possible. It brought in huge audiences with 3.3 million watching episode one, making it the highest new factual title on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Two in 2023.

This year Brian Cox will take us on a jaw-dropping journey round our  using the latest data sent by the fleet of probes that are up in space right now.

In 2025 Ella Al-Shamahi will host which will use the latest findings from dig sites and DNA sequencing to shine new light on the 300,000 year story of Homo sapiens and why we survived when other hominin species didn’t.

These series are the crown jewels of the science slate and we’re keen to keep building on their success. They’re big budget productions so if you’re developing an idea in this space it’s important to also think about what your co-pro plan will be.

5. Innovation and impact

Because we need our shows to stand out in an on-demand world and social media, innovative forms and surprising storytelling techniques are more important than ever.

We want to see the points of difference in the ideas you bring to us from their first pitch, so we know how they will stand out as an iPlayer thumbnail and keep viewers coming back for more. For example, we used stylish lip-synced interviews in Aids: The Unheard Tapes and innovative deep fake tech in religion’s I’m An Alcoholic: Inside Recovery. What other techniques are there that can feel this audacious and open up stories that might otherwise be off limits?

6. Urgent questions

What are the urgent debates and provocative questions that stir up debate in the audience?

For example Better Off Dead? follows Liz Carr, a long term campaigner against a change in the law around assisted suicide. Whether we call it assisted dying, assisted suicide or euthanasia, the practice of a medical professional assisting a person to end their life has long provoked debate. Concerned that any change in the law sends the message that the lives of disabled and marginalised people are less valuable, Liz will take an in-depth look at this divisive issue.

We’re interested in different approaches to unpacking attention grabbing headlines. Unvaccinated tapped into the fierce debates dividing families, friends and colleagues across the country and prompted passionate conversations on social media from the first press announcement until broadcast. Likewise, The Shamima Begum Story from current affairs shone a new light on a debate that has electrified the country.

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.