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Press Releases
±«Óãtv Switch announces launch of new content
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The ±«Óãtv's teen brand ±«Óãtv Switch announced today details of a raft of new content aimed at 12 to 17-year-olds, across TV and online at bbc.co.uk/switch.
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The first programme to launch in late March/early April on ±«Óãtv Two will be The Surgery. The remaining content will launch on ±«Óãtv Two in May.
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±«Óãtv Switch on ±«Óãtv Two:
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The Surgery
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New teen talk show The Surgery will be a series of 15-minute programmes linked to ±«Óãtv Radio 1's The Surgery, giving British teenagers a voice. The Surgery, hosted by new signing Jeff Leach, will deal with an assortment of topical issues facing teens such as dating, family, social networking, ASBOs, fashion, drinking and drugs, body image, celebs, politics and more.
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Each week, Jeff will have an open and challenging discussion with the teen studio audience, with weekly contributions from teens across the UK. The Surgery will also have a dedicated section on bbc.co.uk/switch which offers expert advice and practical information.
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Class Of 2008
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Class Of 2008 is an observational documentary series that follows six up-and-coming young talented people in London on their creative journeys as they strive to establish themselves as successes in their fields of fashion, music, design, acting, DJing and entrepreneurship.
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The six are a unique group of friends led by Daisy Lowe, a top model with Select Model Management who is set to move to New York and go global in 2008. Daisy's boyfriend Will Cameron is the lead singer of up-and-coming indie band Blondelle.
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Daisy and Will's friend is club promoter and DJ Flash Louis who is hoping to launch a big new club night in London. Louis brings Kesh into the fold, a fashion designer, stylist, dancer and DJ who is already making a name for herself among the fashion elite.
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Daisy's friend Portia Freeman, also at Select, is well on her way to becoming one of the most unique and successful models of her generation. Portia brings in budding actor Daryl Fox-Huxley. East End boy Daryl has given up his beloved boxing career and is auditioning for stage and screen.
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The eight-episode series will follow the group and their ups and downs as they try to land record deals, modelling contracts, acting roles, show fashion collections and launch club nights.
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Revealed...
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Revealed... (working title) will be a journalism series of current affairs programmes that give an authentic depiction of the teenage world in the UK today. The show, presented by young journalists Charlotte Ashton and Anthony Baxter, will inform and lead viewers on a journey to make sense of a variety of subjects such as teen alienation, gangs, family life, sex, school and more.
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Kyle XY
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Kyle XY is an award-winning hit teen drama from the US which will air for the first time on UK terrestrial TV. The show tells the story of a unique teenage boy Kyle, played by Matt Dallas, who has a mysterious past, and the family that takes him in.
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Kyle appears to be a newborn but after being found and put in an institution he meets psychologist Nicole Trager who can tell he is different.
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Nicole brings him home, much to the annoyance of her two children Lori and Josh and her husband Stephen. Soon Kyle starts to become part of the family but he's far from an ordinary boy.
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Kyle XY will succeed the ±«Óãtv Switch acquired teen drama Falcon Beach in May.
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Meta4orce
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The new narrative format Meta4orce is an animated interactive detective series about a team of four genetically altered investigators solving high-profile crime cases in the flooded city of London in 2034.
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The four have extraordinary skills to help them solve crimes in ways "normal" detectives never could, including the ability to visualise the history recorded into objects, to experience the fading memories of a dying brain, to "taste" the information contained in samples of blood and to manipulate time.
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Peter Milligan, a veteran graphic novel writer for DC Comics and Marvel, has penned the script. The programme will be a series of four seven-minute episodes.
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Fully interactive problem-solving games complement the show and viewers will be able to join the action by going online and joining the detectives to help solve the crime.
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±«Óãtv Switch online
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Benched is a quickfire teen match-making show that takes place on a park bench. There will be a series of five-minute "webisodes" on different park benches starring teens from the local area. The show will be launched online from early May.
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To Be Continued... (TBC) is a storytelling project between ±«Óãtv Switch and young people in the UK who love acting, filming and directing.
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Award-winning writer Al Smith (EastEnders, Holby City) has penned this new interactive online drama about four friends, Nat, Naomi, Ernie and Bee falling for each other, falling out and finding out, when it comes to love, does age matter?
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The audience can take part in this original ±«Óãtv drama by filming their favourite scenes and uploading them to the TBC website.
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TBC will broadcast act one online in April/May and invite the audience to sign up and show off their filmmaking, script-writing and acting skills. The result will be a filmed jigsaw of scenes filmed by TBC, young people and secret celebrity guests.
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Sound
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Weekly music TV show Sound continues its run on ±«Óãtv Two. The show is co-hosted by Radio 1 DJs Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw. It is filmed out and about and focuses on the best new music while mixing up live performances and interviews across a variety of genres.
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Sound is also available to watch online at bbc.co.uk/switch. Two new Sound specials will be aired on ±«Óãtv Two in March and May from the 1Xtra Live event and Radio 1's Big Weekend respectively.
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Andy Parfitt, Controller, Radio 1, 1Xtra, ±«Óãtv Switch and ±«Óãtv Asian Network, said: "I am very proud of what the ±«Óãtv Switch team have achieved so far and I'm delighted with the new content that we have coming up."
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Geoffrey Goodwin, Head of ±«Óãtv Switch, said: "This next phase of Switch content will see an enriched offer for our teen audience. The core mission of ±«Óãtv Switch is to celebrate British teens, their lives and aspirations, with our effort concentrated in digital spaces.
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"The Surgery will be a 360-degree offer with content on Radio 1, online and TV. Overall, we continue to engage the audience with innovative formats such as To Be Continued... and Class Of 2008 and new narrative formats online including Meta4orce.
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"We have achieved a lot with our audience in the four months since we launched and we continue to create high-quality content across multiple platforms that really connects and resonates with teens."
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Jeff Leach said: "I am so excited to present The Surgery on ±«Óãtv Two and join the ±«Óãtv Switch family. The Surgery will be a fast-paced forum for British youth to debate, discuss and deliberate without fear of judgement. Each week we'll tackle real issues relevant to the teens on the show and their peers watching at home. It's going to be unmissable."
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Matt Dallas, star of Kyle XY, said: "I'm really excited to be a part of the ±«Óãtv Switch line-up! I hope that British viewers enjoy watching it as much as we enjoy making it."
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Notes to Editors
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- ±«Óãtv Switch launched in October 2007 and is the ±«Óãtv's teen service delivering content to 12 to 17-year-olds across multiple platforms, TV, Radio 1 and online.
The new content on ±«Óãtv Two will sit alongside the current ±«Óãtv Switch TV content Sound, Falcon Beach and Them.
Them is a series showcasing the different teenage tribes that exist in Britain today and celebrates what makes each tribe unique. Them airs online at bbc.co.uk/switch as well as on ±«Óãtv Two.
Radio 1 continues its five-hour teen slot on Sunday nights – Switch with Nick Grimshaw (7.00-10.00pm) and Radio 1's The Surgery (10.00pm-midnight) with Kelly Osbourne.
±«Óãtv Switch online will also provide online gaming in the form of astrological thriller Signs Of Life, interactive soap Wannabes and other great games aggregated from across the ±«Óãtv.
The audience can email the ±«Óãtv to find out how to take part in TBC: info@tbcfilm.co.uk.
The Surgery on ±«Óãtv Two is produced by Remedy Productions, Anna White is Series Producer and Toby Dormer is Executive Producer.
Class Of 2008 is produced by Monkey.
Benched is produced by Done and Dusted.
Meta4orce is produced by digital agency Bloc Media.
Peter Milligan is a comic book legend. He has written many comics and graphic novels, including cult series Shade The Hanging Man. One of the original Vertigo creators, with groundbreaking and controversial work like Enigma, Skin, Face, Johnny Nemo and The Extremist. More recent work is London Pop for Vertigo and The Programme, a politically-charged superhero epic for Wildstorm. He also wrote the critically acclaimed fan favourite X-Statix for Marvel which resulted in the infamous Princess Diana case. When plans to bring back Princess Diana as a superhero were leaked to the press and the palace, both took a dim view. In 2003, Milligan was named one of Entertainment Monthly's Men of the Year. He has also written two screenplays Pilgrim (Inferno in USA) starring Ray Liotta and the multi-award-winning, BAFTA-nominated An Angel For May, starring Tom Wilkinson.
Kyle XY is an acquired US drama from Disney-ABC International Television. The show launched in June 2006 in the US on ABC Family and ABC. The show was ABC Family's best-performing original series of all time. Kyle XY aired in the UK in 2007 on Trouble and S2. The show won the TCA (Television Critics Association) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming in 2007. Both Matt Dallas and the show were nominated at the Teen Choice Awards and the Casting and Sci-Fi Society Awards in 2007.
- Matt Dallas has been acting since the age of 12 when he landed the role in a local production of The Ugly Duckling. After several years in community theatre, he moved to LA, got his first work as a model, and was seen in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Glamour. Matt then landed a guest-starring role in HBO's Entourage and a lead role in the short film The Visitor. Most recently he was seen in the James Blunt video Goodbye My Lover co-starring with Misha Barton. Matt has just finished the feature film Babysitter Wanted, to be released later in 2008.
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