Heshima Thompson

EastEnders: E20 is a British Internet soap opera, which began airing on 8 January 2010. A spin-off from the established BBC soap EastEnders, it is set in EastEnders' regular setting of Albert Square, a Victorian square in the fictional borough of Walford, in the East End of London. Each series follows a group of teenage characters: Zsa Zsa Carter, Leon Small, Fatboy and Mercy Olubunmi in series 1; Asher Levi and his brother Sol, Naz Mehmet, and Stevie Dickinson in series 2; and Ava Bourne, Donnie Lester and Faith Olubunmi in series 3. The show's title comes from Walford's fictional London postcode district, E20. The four characters from series 1 also appear in EastEnders, as well as Faith from series 3. EastEnders: E20 originally aired as part of the main show's 25th anniversary celebrations. It was devised in a bid to develop and nurture new talent, including writers, actors, composers and remixers, and target a younger audience, as well as to attempt to drive more people onto the Internet. The series was the idea of executive producers Diederick Santer, who wanted a show where regular EastEnders characters would be in the background, and John Yorke, who wanted to improve the portrayal of teenagers in EastEnders and to get younger people writing for it.

Open details →

Spooks: Code 9 is a 2008 six-episode BBC spin-off of the spy drama Spooks. In a near-future 2013 Britain following a devastating London terror attack, a new, younger team of MI5 recruits—including Charlie, Rachel, Jez, Vik, Rob, and Kylie—work from a new Manchester headquarters to battle terrorism in a highly surveilled, post-attack world. It offers a younger, more 'maverick' perspective on the Spooks universe, focusing on the challenges of liberty and security in a tense society. The series was commissioned by BBC Fiction's controller Jane Tranter as a spin-off of their long-running drama Spooks in order to attract a younger audience. The decision to relate the new project to the original Spooks was controversial; but there are no crossover characters or storylines and, most importantly, is set in a completely new world.

Open details →

Drama based on real-life events. Marie Stubbs, a diminutive Glaswegian headmistress who is coming up to retirement age, takes on one last challenge: to improve the fortunes of St George's School in north west London which was facing closure after the notorious murder of its previous headmaster, Philip Lawrence, in 1995 as he was breaking up a fight between his pupils and those from a rival school.

Open details →

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

Open details →

Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove as the barrister Jo Mills, frequently the object of Deed's desire. A pilot episode was broadcast on 9 January 2001, followed by the first full series on 26 November 2001. The sixth and last series concluded on 18 January 2007. The programme then went on an indefinite break after Shaw became involved in another television programme, and he and Seagrove expressed a wish for the format of the series to change before they filmed new episodes. By 2009, the series had officially been cancelled. The six series produced make it the longest-running BBC legal drama. The factual accuracy of the series is often criticised by legal professionals and journalists; many of the decisions taken by Deed are unlikely to happen in a real court. The romanticised vision of the court system created by Newman caused a judge to issue a warning to a jury not to let the series influence their view of trials—referring to an episode where Deed flouts rules when called up for jury duty. Another episode led to complaints about biased and incorrect information about the MMR vaccine, leading the BBC to ban repeats of it in its original form. All six series have been released on DVD in the UK.

Open details →

Babyfather is a BBC Two television programme which aired in the UK in 2001 and 2002. The show has been described as a "black, male, UK version of Sex and the City". It ran for two series, and was based on a novel written by Patrick Augustus. The writers of the screenplay include Avril E. Russell, Sharon Foster, and Roy Williams.

Open details →

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

Open details →