BBC Three Is Back! The Shows That Make The Channel Iconic

 

After a 6 year break being on our tv screens finally BBC Three is returning as a channel today (1st February) at 7pm. It's also my birthday today, so this is a very exciting day. BBC Three originally launched on 9th February 2003 however it closed as a channel on 16th February 2016 when the organisation stupidly decided it should only be an online channel to be viewed on iPlayer. The main motivation why the BBC did this was to save money of course however I have a feeling that they also did it because they could sense that young people nowadays mainly watch shows via streaming services and not linear tv, (which is true) however the shows they produced were so popular that even that reason made no sense six years ago. 

But then why is it coming back you ask? Due to the popularity of shows such as RuPaul's Drag Race UK and Normal People the online channel received millions of viewers tune in which hasn't happened in a long time. Also these shows were on during lockdown of course, so this gave the service a massive boost that it hadn't seen in years. To celebrate this exciting and historic moment I'm going to talk about the channel's both past and present shows that made and still makes the platform iconic today. Over the years BBC Three has been one of the very few platforms that has purely represented the youth, whether that was the youth of the noughties or the youth of now, it still talks about issues that we can relate to, which other channels and streaming platforms can't do. So let's take a dive into the televisual portal that is BBC Three...

Gavin & Stacey

Being Welsh myself, Gavin & Stacey will always hold a special place in my heart. The story of two young love birds who work for the same company in different parts of the country, Gavin in Essex and Stacey in Barry Island who talk to each other over the phone until they finally meet for the first time on a trip to London where Gavin brings his friend Smithy and Stacey brings Nessa. Their friends don't see eye to eye at first however that quickly changes and then the story unfolds as Gavin & Stacey get engaged which then means we see a lot more of their families. With legendary characters including Pam, Bryn, Mick, I could go on and on this show really captured the audience and it helped put Barry Island on the map which is something I don't think it could of ever predicted in a million years! When they came back with a Christmas Special in 2019 it had millions of us hooked and we are still begging them to make at least one more special as we all want to know whether Smithy said yes to Nessa's proposal.

Snog Marry Avoid?

If you were a teenage girl during the late noughties and 2010s and you liked makeover shows, then you definitely would of watched Snog Marry Avoid back in the day. The difference between this show and other makeover shows of the time was that this show gave people a 'make under' where they would strip back people who wore too much fake tan, had way too many wacky accessories going on or those who wore too much make up. The host of the show was Jenny Frost from Atomic Kitten, which was a very random choice however she was actually quite a good presenter! The person, or in this case the robot who worked on the make under was called POD which stood for Personal Overhaul Device. She would talk to the person about why they dressed that way and she would give them options to help choose their new look. At the end you would see their make under complete with either the contestants smiling because they were happy with the new look or utterly shocked because them looking so bare of makeup and fake tan was something they were not ready for! Nowadays I can see this show being a bit controversial especially as because of social media we are encouraged to be our individual selves however back then people would stand out a lot more if they looked different to the average person on the street. I actually liked when they changed people who wore way too much fake tan and make up as they always looked better without those things, what I didn't like was when they changed someone who maybe dressed in a gothic or emo way and completely changed their style. It's a show that brings up a lot of conversations that's for sure.

The Mighty Boosh

From the brains of the wonderfully creative Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, The Mighty Boosh was one of the first shows to ever grace BBC Three's screens as it started in 2003 which was when the channel launched. We see Vince Noir and Howard Moon go on wild adventures escaping their day jobs of working as zoo keepers. Now I actually haven't seen a full episode of this show (they are all on iPlayer though!) as I was only 8 when the show started therefore I was too young to see it, so I can't talk about it in detail however it definitely had it's cult following which helped propelled BBC Three. It looks mad and I've seen almost everything else that Noel Fielding is in, so I will definitely be watching it soon.

People Just Do Nothing

The mockumentary show that follows a group of failed MCs who own a pirate radio station in Brentford, west London brought in a massive audience for BBC Three online as you couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for these guys who desperately wanted to make it big in the music industry. The cameras follow Grindah, Beats, Steves, Decoy and their manager Chabuddy G 's day to day going ons of trying to keep their pirate show on the air without getting caught by their neighbours. I also love the supporting cast, especially Miche who is Grindah's girlfriend as she's so funny but not in a obvious way and she does everything she can to support Grindah's career as she loves him so much. There's also a long running underlying joke as Miche's daughter Angel is obviously Decoy's daughter, not Grindah's as he visits her all the time, yet Grindah has no idea why! The show got so successful that they made a Comic Relief song with Ed Sheeran and they even made their own movie: People Just Do Nothing Big in Japan which I have yet to see but it looks so good!

Fleabag

Fleabag tells a story of a woman in her early 30s who uses sex to distract from the issues she has going on in her life. In series 1 we see her try to communicate with her sister again after not speaking for ages, mostly due to her sister's horrible husband who hates Fleabag. They both share a common ground though in that they both detest their father's new partner who's now their godmother after their mother died of breast cancer. In series 2 we see Fleabag meet a new character who only goes by the famous phrase: The Sexy Priest even though the character's name is just called The Priest haha. They relate over their different views on religion and other topics when Fleabag realises she is falling in love with him. Unfortunately for her of course they sleep together and she hopes that he'll give up God for her but in the end he doesn't. Whilst this is happening her sister Claire (played by the amazing and hilarious Sian Clifford!) wants to get a divorce from her husband as she's now falling for one of her colleagues who is based in Finland, so she has to make the decision of whether to stay or go and live the life she really wants. Written and starring the brilliant Phoebe Waller- Bridge this was one of BBC Three's biggest success in years, especially series 2 which is even funnier than series 1. Phoebe said that there won't be any more series of the show to come however who knows maybe they'll reunite in 10 or 15 years time as personally I'd love to see where the characters would be then.

Normal People

Normal People is based on Sally Rooney's best selling novel of the same name. Set in Ireland Connor and Marianne go to the same high school, but they couldn't be more different. Connor is a popular lad who's always surrounded by people, so he has lots of friends, whilst Marianne on the other hand is an intelligent loner who is surrounded by her books. However they both are attracted to each other, so they secretly date at school however it unfortunately ends when Connor asks another girl from school to the prom. Fast forward a couple of years and the roles have switched. Marianne is in the popular group at university while Connor doesn't have any friends there. They eventually meet again and you following their friendship slowly form again and then it turns into a will they won't they again. With amazing performances from Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal this show captured the hearts of the country during lockdown. Even Connor's chain that he wore got it's own Instagram account!

RuPaul's Drag Race UK

The one show that I feel helped catapulted BBC Three back into the mainstream was RuPaul's Drag Race UK. As soon as I heard that RuPaul was making a UK version of the show I knew it was going to be successful! Why you ask? The UK is known for having some of the most funniest drag queens in the land and also with their winning personalities to match meant that they gave us so much entertainment when it came to the acting, photoshoot and comedic challenges. Also you don't have to win the show anymore to gain huge success as queens including Tayce and Bimini Bon Boulash have modelled in campaigns for luxury fashion houses. Very excitingly today when I post this article a new show from RuPaul is starting called RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus The World where as you guessed it a selection of the queens from the UK shows team up against queens from the other franchises to compete. I am so excited for this and best of all this show and the BBC Three channel starts on my birthday! I can't wait to watch it.

I'm going to leave you with this image. Does anyone remember when the Ardman slugs were the logo for BBC Three? Let me know if you do as I know you are a similar age as me haha.

Thanks for reading.

Chantal x