Rising Dawn

Can news be presented as drama? The editorial team at the BBC must have wrangled over this one. Newsnight is to stage a series of short dramas to raise issues about the decision to go to war against Iraq 5 years ago. This is how the Editor, Peter Barron explained it in his daily email.

Next week on Newsnight we’re making our first foray into drama with a series of films entitled 10 Days to War. This may prove controversial, but we hope it will also open up the debate about the war in Iraq in new and revealing ways. The issue our viewers most often ask us to revisit is - by some distance - the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Over the next two weeks, to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion, we will look back and examine again the circumstances of the run-up to war: the WMD claims, the question of legality, the diplomatic wrangles and so on.

I’m pleased they’ve decided to present the films as a mini drama series that will screen before Newsnight starts. But it still raises difficulties. (more…)

One to put in your programme planner, Sky+, HD Recorder or whatever you use to make sure you can watch what you want rather than just what’s on.

BBC - Press Office - BBC One presents The Passion for Easter 2008

The Passion will be stripped across Easter week on BBC One, drawing to a dramatic climax on Easter Sunday.
 
Visually arresting and rich in colour, the story is rooted in the tangled and chaotic world in which it took place – the city of Jerusalem during Passover week.
 
Set in the political and religious context of the time, it combines both narrative tension and thematic power to convey the extraordinary events that took place that week in a bold and distinctive way.
 
This production places the audience at the heart of the action by telling the story from three points of view – the religious authorities, the Romans and Jesus.

…… and if you forget - there’s always I>Player