BBC Controller Zai Bennett announces a new season of documentaries for BBC Three, including; We Call It Home and New Kids on the Block with a focus on Britain’s young, visiting Britain’s estates and following first-time parents.

BBC Controller Zai Bennett

We Call It Home (working title)

We Call It Home looks at the story of British estates. Set entirely on a housing estate in North Manchester, the documentary tells life changing stories of teenage pregnancies, looming jail sentences, drug addicted parents and dreams of escaping to become a world famous rap star are mixed with fleeting snapshots of every day young life that are shocking, hilarious, outrageous and profound.

From the launderette beleaguered by local burglars to the beauticians where a ‘wow brow’ is the current fashion statement of the summer; from the impromptu riding stables on a patch of wasteland to the disused council property that has been turned into an illegal party house, the everyday activities of the estate provide a rich backdrop to the extraordinary highs and lows of young life in this vibrant and often contradictory world.

We Call It Home (6×60) will be executive produced by Simon Dickson for Dragonfly Productions and Samantha Anstiss for the BBC.

New Kids on the Block (working title)

New Kids on the Block (4×60 follows four new sets of parents as they face the most pressurised experience of their lives: the challenge of becoming first-time parents. The couples will head straight from the hospital to an apartment block, where they will spend the first months of their parental lives living alongside one another.

The couples will face the highs and lows of becoming new parents, dealing with breastfeeding, nappy changing and a serious lack of sleep in the same — all in the same building.

New Kids on the Block (4×60) will be executive produced by Jes Wilkins for Firecracker Films and Fiona Campbell for the BBC.

The new commissions follow the success of BBC Three’s Bafta-winning and critically acclaimed documentary series, Our War which is also set to return.

In the new series the programme makers are taking viewers closer than ever to the defining moments of the Afghanistan war.

Zai Bennett, Controller, BBC Three says:
“We Call It Home will capture what life is really like on one of Britain’s toughest estates – not only the highs and lows, but importantly the honesty and humour of some of our audience in their own words. New Kids on The Block will give our audience an insight to the first fraught months of bringing a new baby in to the world, with young parents learning how to cope from each other and their families and friends as they live together in the apartment block.”

The new season of documentaries will air on BBC Three this year, with dates yet to be announced.