Published: 12:01 am, 8 September 2025
The BBC is the largest producer of stories that are ‘made of’ the UK’s people, places and communities. We hope that the Made Of campaign will shine a light on our unique role in bringing the best of these programmes to our screens.
From Manchester to Cardiff, Shetland to West Yorkshire and the Home Counties to Blackpool, audiences will see their home towns reflected on the BBC this autumn.
The BBC has launched a campaign – Made Of Here – to celebrate its commitment to supporting homegrown storytelling. At the heart of the campaign is a compelling new film; the BBC’s love letter to the home towns and cities across the UK that have inspired some of its most iconic TV shows and characters.
The campaign comes as the BBC’s new season schedule gets underway, packed with homegrown drama, comedy and factual programmes.
New programmes due to be broadcast on the BBC this autumn include:
- Greater Manchester-set romantic comedy-drama Film Club, co-created by and starring Aimee Lou Wood and Ralph Davis, which was filmed in the city
- Recently launched thriller The Guest starring Eve Myles and Gabrielle Creevy, filmed in South Wales and set in Cardiff, available now on BBC iPlayer
- Sally Wainwright’s Riot Women, set and filmed in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire
- Wild Cherry, by BAFTA-winner Nicôle Lecky, set and filmed in the Home Counties
- Small Prophets, a new comedy created and written by Mackenzie Crook, which is set in and filmed around Manchester
- Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles from locations across the UK
- Titanic Sinks Tonight, a new four part documentary with dramatisations, filmed in Belfast
- Leonard and Hungry Paul, set in Ireland, will be narrated by actress Julia Roberts, starring Northern Ireland’s Jamie-Lee O’Donnell
- Farm 999, a 15-part daytime series presented by Steph McGovern, filmed in farms across the UK
Hit programmes returning to the BBC include:
- Norfolk’s How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
- A Christmas special of Glasgow’s Two Doors Down
- Specials of Mrs Brown’s Boys, which is set in Dublin
- Second series of Mammoth, the comedy which is shot in Cardiff
- Second series of Daddy Issues, which is made in Stockport, where it’s set
- Third series of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams, featuring Bootle in Liverpool, Blackpool and Manchester, available now on iPlayer
- Third series of Highland Cops, covering the work of the UK’s biggest beat
- Series 10 of the drama Shetland
- Third series of Blue Lights, set and filmed in Belfast
- Second series of Stacey & Joe, from Pickle Cottage in Essex
- Hope Street returns with series five and reaches a milestone – its 50th episode, filmed in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland
- Strictly Come Dancing will make its annual and much-anticipated return to Blackpool in November
Meanwhile, fans of EastEnders are enjoying the return of Zoe Slater to the East End after 20 years, and Manchester-made and set Waterloo Road will return for series 16.
BBC Radio 4’s new drama slate highlights storytelling with a strong sense of place, including High Cockalorum, broadcast on 18 September. Starring Mark Gatiss and his League of Gentlemen co-stars, it’s a comedy drama by Bradford writer Jeremy Dyson, set in West Yorkshire and inspired by a real-life meeting between a Hollywood star and a humble lad from Leeds.
Listeners can catch more Bradford-based drama in Blue Envelopes, plus other upcoming dramas from across the UK including Astronomers, set during a road trip through Wales; Trust, set in Salford; Samhain and Marwick, both set in the haunting landscapes of Scotland, and Downstream, located in the idyllic beauty of the Fens.
In upcoming episodes of documentaries for BBC Radio 4, Currently explores Scottish Independence, Archive on 4 travels to Chesire, Illuminated sheds light on Bolton and East Anglia and The Patch continues cover the extraordinary unheard stories unfolding across the UK thanks to a randomly generated postcode.
There are also a range of podcasts reflecting stories and voices from across the UK, including the recently launched Ballad of Big Mags from Scotland and upcoming When a Catfish Kills from Northern Ireland, both part of the Crime Next Door series, as well as In Detail… Sanctuary from Manchester coming later in September.
The autumn releases are part of the continued commitment from the BBC to produce more programming across the UK. In a year-on-year increase, in 2024/25 the BBC broadcast 581 hours of high-impact programmes set in and portraying specific areas of the UK on our network TV channels and BBC iPlayer. This is 13% higher than our commitment and 16% higher than in 2023/24.
More comedies and dramas due to return for second series and in production include: the Glasgow-set, award-winning comedy Dinosaur, which is filmed in the city; Ludwig, starring David Mitchell, set in Cambridge; Liverpool drama This City Is Ours; Smoggie Queens, the sitcom from Middlesbrough; and Funboys, the comedy set and filmed in Northern Ireland.
Filming has recently started on a third series of Granite Harbour, which is set in Aberdeen and filmed in Aberdeenshire and Glasgow. Meanwhile, the second series of Only Child, which is set on the Moray coast, is filming in Glasgow and locations in Paisley, Helensburgh and Dunlop. Filming has also started in South Wales on a second series of Death Valley starring Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth.
Also in Scotland, a new series of much-loved children’s programme Balamory, which is being reimagined more than two decades after it was last broadcast, is being filmed in studio in Glasgow and on location in Tobermory, the real-life Isle of Mull town that inspired the show’s setting. The first Silent Witness series to be made in and featuring Birmingham will also be coming to screens.
The new film for the Made Of Here campaign has been shot across the UK, from Shetland to Kimmeridge Bay. We filmed with 96 local cast and worked with 120 local crew across all our filming locations. The film is set to the soundtrack of a bespoke version of Myles Smith’s My Home by Alex Baranowski, showing local landmarks and playing out spine-tingling scenes from some of the BBC’s best-loved shows.
Audiences will see Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders splashed across the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, Gavin & Stacey on a trailer in Barry Island Pleasure Park and Blue Lights on a shipping container in front of Titanic Belfast.
The final frame reminds viewers that the BBC is Made Of the places that provide the settings for the programmes – including Glasgow, Belfast, Brentford, Birmingham, Shetland, Preston, Liverpool, Bolton, Barry Island, Dorset and London’s East End and Peckham. It will be shown across the BBC and on social media along with a week of special content on The One Show and Morning Live, focusing on the real-life inspirational stories behind our beloved popular programmes.
Alongside the national film, the campaign – which has been produced in house at the BBC by BBC Creative – will be brought to life in marketing activations in towns and cities across the UK, spotlighting the local areas that have inspired the BBC to tell these stories.
Myles Smith, whose track features in the film, says: “It means a lot to me when my music makes an impact, so it’s very special to hear My Home soundtrack this powerful and important celebration of UK storytelling. My hometown of Luton gave me my roots, shaped me and helps me stay grounded. I hope this connects with people and reminds them of their own hometowns, wherever that may be.”
Myles Smith, one of the UK’s very own homegrown storytellers, has had an exciting journey with the BBC. He was supported early on by BBC Introducing in the East Midlands and Introducing in Northampton & Three Counties, before achieving national support via BBC Introducing on BBC Radio 1. In 2024, Myles performed on the BBC Introducing Stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in his home town of Luton, won the BBC Introducing Artist of the Year award, and was chosen for Radio 1’s Brit List – an initiative launched in 2017 to support and develop the UK’s most exciting emerging artists, which has since helped propel many to wider recognition.
Kate Phillips, BBC Chief Content Officer, says: “The BBC is incredibly proud of the leading role we play in bringing the best homegrown storytelling to our audiences, whether that’s in landmark dramas, laugh-out-loud comedies or memorable factual programmes. We know that our audiences value this type of content and that it can even positively affect how connected they feel to other people.
“The BBC is the largest producer of stories that are ‘made of’ the UK’s people, places and communities. We hope that the Made Of campaign will shine a light on our unique role in bringing the best of these programmes to our screens.”
The public will also have the chance to be in the audience for an exclusive screening of Riot Women, the brand-new drama from the multi-BAFTA award-winning writer Sally Wainwright, who created Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax and Gentleman Jack. Apply for free tickets for the event in Hebden Bridge here.
The BBC is the largest single investor in UK-made programming, with 99% of its original content made in the UK. It contributes £4.9 billion to the UK economy each year, with 50% of that impact outside London, compared to 20% for the wider industry.
For every £1 of the BBC’s direct economic activity, £2.63 is generated in the UK economy as a whole and 58% of its TV commissioning spend is outside London. The BBC also invests in dedicated local services for every part of the UK.
NS