BBC Children's and Education announces TV adaptation of The Lady Grace Mysteries and more new commissions
Get ready for more laughs and team spirit as High Hoops returns for Season 2 in Spring 2026. Starring Peep Show alumni, Robert Webb and Isy Suttie, this hit 10 x 30-minute children's show will continue to follow the tall, gaffe-prone but unstoppable Aoife O'Neill and her school basketball team. Aimed at 8-13 year-olds, High Hoops is a sharp, witty, and aspirational comedy set in an urban comprehensive, where Aoife and her vibrant team of teammates navigate the ups and downs of sports, friendship, and growing up.
The Football Academy (15 x 22') is also back for a new season with an exciting move to Tottenham Hotspur Academy. Following the success of its first two seasons at Southampton FC, the hit show will now showcase the challenges and triumphs of youth players at the prestigious North London academy. Viewers will continue to follow the journeys of players from the boys' and girls' teams and club-run para teams, aged 9 to 17, as they face the highs and lows of elite football at world-class facilities, including Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and their state-of-the-art training centre.
Coming from Zig Zag, this season promises to elevate the drama and excitement, as the series steps up its game within the fresh, high-profile setting. As these young athletes push their limits, fans can expect inspiring stories of determination, teamwork, and growth in one of the UK's most celebrated football environments. The Football Academy continues to deliver powerful, behind-the-scenes access to the next generation of football stars, now with even more ambition and opportunity.
Patricia Hidalgo, Director of Children's & Education, BBC: 'We are the biggest commissioner globally for children's TV and continue to invest in high-quality, home-grown storytelling that brings families together. The new commissions reflect our commitment to our young audience, but also to the UK's creative economy at a time when our industry is in decline globally. The breadth of new titles demonstrates our unique role to provide all children with diverse, culturally relevant content that educates, entertains, and inspires'.
For younger children and families on CBeebies there is a bumper crop of new commissions to inspire imaginative play and outdoor fun. What's In Your Plant Pot? produced by Gold Wala, inspires young viewers with the excitement of gardening, exploring the wonders of plants and nature through fun, engaging facts and interactive participation. A creative twist on the popular 'What's In Your Bag?' format, the 30x7 show focuses on curiosity, diversity, interactivity, and fun. With engaging facts and playful exploration, it takes viewers on a journey into the world of plants, flowers, and vegetables, highlighting different tastes, cultures, and uses.
Also in the garden, I Can Grow It, a 30 x 10 urban gardening series led by Aaron Roach-Bridgeman, takes young children on a magical journey to explore gardening in the heart of the city. Joining Aaron is a diverse group of budding gardeners, aged 3 to 5, as they explore the wonders of growing plants. Coming in Spring 2026 from Common Story in the West Midlands, Aaron's unique talents as a lyricist, beatboxer, and poet infuse the series with an extra layer of fun and rhythm, making it an unforgettable experience for little ones.
I Spy, You Spy, is a brand-new CBeebies show that brings the classic children's game to life, encouraging interactive play, imagination, and observation skills. Join Elsee, a lovable puppet, as she travels across the country, inviting children to pause, observe, and enjoy the world around them. Each 26 x 5 episode celebrates diversity, showcasing a variety of landscapes—whether in the countryside, the city, or indoors—there's always something exciting to see.
I Spy, You Spy, will air in Autumn and is being produced by Tiny House Productions, a company that received support from the BBC's Small Indie Fund, which helps small independent production companies grow after receiving mentoring from the BBC Children's commissioning team. Tiny House Productions will be producing the series alongside NEST productions.
The announcement comes as hundreds of production companies across the UK came together to be inspired about the latest commissioning strategy to create high quality, enriching content that nurtures the new talent both on and off screen at the BBC Children's Briefing Day in Liverpool.
HM
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
Sacred Mysteries: London life when opera stars sang at church
At lunch yesterday in the lovely Tudor house of Nettlecombe Court, east of Exmoor, a four-part grace was sung, composed by Vincent Novello, the founder of the music publishers. It may well have been sung there before, because Novello and his daughter, the singer Clara Novello, were frequent visitors to the house when it was owned by Sir John Trevelyan Bt (1761–1846). This year it was the setting for Spode Music Week, a residential opportunity for intensive music-making, much to a very high standard, with the Catholic liturgy at its heart. Its name comes from Spode House, Staffordshire, where it was founded in 1954 by the remarkable Dominican priest Father Conrad Pepler. Nettlecombe's connections with Vincent Novello and Catholic liturgical music in early 19th-century England were explored in a lecture by John Sloboda, research professor at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The musical world he described is generally unfamiliar. Catholics were not emancipated from their civil disabilities until 1829, but in the meantime made music at Mass in the country houses of recusant gentry or, in London, in embassy chapels, such as the one at the Portuguese embassy off Golden Square, ransacked in the Gordon Riots of 1780, despite its diplomatic status. At Warwick Street church, the successor to that chapel, Professor Sloboda found among old music scores the name of Manuel Garcia, a great Spanish operatic tenor of the early 19th century. Not only did he worship at Warwick Street when he was in London to appear at Covent Garden, but he was also one of the performers who would sing at Mass from the choir loft. The excellence of music at the church won it the nickname 'the shilling opera', from the amount worshippers might contribute each Sunday. Earlier, Thomas Arne (of Rule, Britannia! fame) had been director of music at the Sardinian Chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields (now St Anselm and St Cecilia's, Kingsway). In 1793 Vincent Novello, aged 12, was recruited to the Sardinian Chapel choir. Aged 16 he was appointed permanent organist at the Portuguese Chapel, by then in South Audley Street, staying for 47 years. Novello found and adapted Latin sacred music from the Continent for English Catholics, publishing it in anthologies arranged for soprano, alto, tenor, bass. The Novellos lived in Oxford Street, where Vincent's father had set up a confectioner's shop, and later in Meard Street, Soho. The embassy chapels were all within walking distance. Novello is said to have premiered in the Sardinian Chapel many of the editions of Mozart he published. He and his wife Mary had 11 children, seven of whom survived into adulthood. As the children grew up, they took part in soirées that he put on for visitors, including Mendelssohn, who often came to London. Another visitor was Sir John Trevelyan of Nettlecombe, Catholic landowner, ornithologist, and learned patron of the arts. He was much taken with Clara Novello's voice and intelligence, not to mention her looks. He took the Novello girls driving in his park. Their father was able to try out the organ at Nettlecombe made in 1665. No earlier organ survives in England, though it is currently in pieces. Clara went on to a long career as a singer, admired by Queen Victoria. Novello's music company prospered. To me it is impressive that a religious minority that had only recently been able to show its face in public should invest so much care into making music for worship.
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
How to decode TK Maxx, Costco & Home Bargains' labels to bag the top buys & discontinued goodies before they go
Plus, the sticker to look out for at Home Bargains SECRET SIGNS How to decode TK Maxx, Costco & Home Bargains' labels to bag the top buys & discontinued goodies before they go Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WANT to bag a real bargain on the high street? It turns out you may need to pay a little more attention to the labels. According to Grace Forell, who posts under The Sustainable Shopper, many shops such as TK Maxx, Costco, and Home Bargains have secret codes on their products. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Savvy shopper Grace Forell shared 'secret codes' some retailers use on their labels Credit: TikTok/@graceforell 7 You should look out for a number '2' on labels at TK Maxx Credit: Getty 7 If you see a number 2, Grace claims these are the best bargains Credit: TikTok/@graceforell She claims the 'secret' codes will help you 'spend more wisely' when you are doing a shop. In a video on her @graceforell account, Grace broke down the things to look out for at some popular retailers. TK MAXX The savvy shopper claims you should look for a single digit on TK Maxx price tags. She added: 'The most common numbers are 1, 2 and 7. 'From what I've researched - '1' means the product was made specifically for TK Maxx - so is unlikely to be a 'wow bargain'. ''7' is a 'packaway' item - usually from a previous season. 'It's probably discounted.' However, she said you should really look out for a '2' as that is the 'thriftiest number. Grace explained: 'These are usually designer bits, being sold at a cut price, that have been bought as part of a deal. 'THESE are the wow bargs.' Shopper reveals sneaky pricing code at all items at T.J. Maxx - be sure to check the number to score the best RIVER ISLAND AND NEXT 7 When you are at River Island or Next, check for any handwritten numbers on labels Credit: Alamy 7 Grace claims that the number written is the price it will be reduced to Credit: TikTok/@graceforell Grace claims that if you notice handwriting on a price tag in a store like Next or River Island, hold off from buying it there and then. She continued: 'There's a good chance it's about to be discounted, usually within days. 'In theory, the number you see written is the price it will become. 'From what I can tell, this is common practice at several retailers - but staff are understandably tight-lipped about it. COSTCO 7 At Costco, labels with a .97 are typically discounts Credit: TikTok/@graceforell When shopping at Costco you should look carefully at the last two digits of prices. "She added: 'Prices ending in .99 are regular, non-sale items. 'Prices ending in .97 are marked down, so worth buying if it's something you want or need. 'Products with an asterisk * or cross + on the shelf sign are likely being DISCONTINUED. 'If it's something you use regularly, take it as your cue to stock up! HOME BARGAINS 7 You may want to stock up on Star Buys with this sticker as they are popular Credit: TikTok/@graceforell The savvy shopper said that when you are in Home Bargains you should look for Star Buys with a red sticker featuring a gold star. She explained: 'Not only do Star Buys usually have the highest discounts, these particular ones are TOP SELLERS. 'How can this help you? 'The red sticker is a STRONG INDICATION of high CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, which means you can buy with confidence.'
Reuters
2 days ago
- Reuters
Amy Berg on ‘It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley' and capturing the man behind the myth
Some artists become timeless because their work transcends eras, resonating with new generations long after their time; others are immortalized because their lives — and careers — ended far too soon. Jeff Buckley, whose ethereal voice and singular 1994 album 'Grace' earned him cult status before his accidental drowning at the age of 30, occupies both categories. Nearly three decades since his passing, audiences now have the opportunity to rediscover Buckley. In 'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley,' filmmaker Amy Berg excavates the life and legacy of the singer, drawing on rare archival material and the intimate recollections of the women who knew him best, including his mother, Mary Guibert, as well as his former partners and bandmates. 'I don't think that there's any one version of the Jeff Buckley story ... but this is the one I chose to tell,' says Berg, whose efforts to make this film — the first to involve the cooperation of the singer's estate — were more than a decade in the making. Speaking with Reuters from Los Angeles in the run up to the film's August 8 release, she discusses why Buckley's voice still resonates today, the challenge of disentangling myth from man, and what his story reveals about the pressures of stardom — and whether we've gotten better at recognizing when young artists need help. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Reuters: To start, can you tell the story of how this film came together, nearly 30 years after Buckley's death? Amy Berg: I was very moved by his album, 'Grace.' It came at a time when music was very grungy and heavy and aggressive and very male. I heard this album and it just opened me up. I had all the feels. I loved 'Grace,' I loved Jeff Buckley. And then just a couple of years later, he passed away while he was making his second album. I've stayed with this album — it stayed with me, I should say — and just watched how his popularity has actually gone up. It seems like every generation, he has a whole bunch of new followers, and it's kind of an unusual phenomenon to just have made one album and be bigger today than he was back in the '90s. I've been wanting to tell his story since then. A couple of projects have been done on Buckley's story. How does this one differ? There has only really been one BBC special that was about him after he died and there was a scripted film that was made about his father (folk rock musician Tim Buckley) that he had a small role (in), but the estate didn't participate in that. So this is really the first time they've ever participated in a film. There are a couple of projects, I believe, that almost happened, but didn't. So this was the only official documentary about Jeff. You've explored the lives of iconic musicians before — I'm thinking, in particular, of your documentary on Janis Joplin. What draws you to these stories? I wanted to make the Jeff Buckley film back in 2010. I didn't get the rights at the time. I was up for the Janis Joplin gig and I went in and met with the family, and I think I did that film as an answer to not being able to make the Jeff Buckley film at the time. But it's good that it happened that way because I learned a lot making the Janis film, about the process of making a music documentary. There's just so much to it. It's dense. There's just a lot of rights involved. There's archive. You have to scour for material. And you have to take on the responsibility of making sure that you get it right because the person is not around to justify or verify things. It was fascinating to hear Buckley narrate parts of his life throughout the film. What kind of source material were you working with? I started reviewing the archive in 2019, which was an interesting moment. It was towards the end of Trump's presidency, but there was a big women's march movement and the language was very specific. And as I started listening to Jeff speak, I noticed what a feminist he was and I noticed that he had this cultural language of our time back in the '90s. He really was tapped into something before his time because the music business was so patriarchal at the time. That really spoke to me, and so I decided to tell the story through the women in his life ... and to try to understand who he was to them, because I just thought that was the right way to tell his story. You mention how Buckley's fame has only grown since his passing. How did you navigate telling the story of the myth versus the man? That was definitely something that I did struggle with because I had a certain impression of him, and I did not want to make a hagiographical film. I wanted to make an honest film and I wanted to show him as a human with all of his tricky, complicated personality. I just wanted to make sure that I got him right and I showed him with warts and all, let's say. What most surprised you about him that you didn't know before taking on the project? When you hone in on a musician and that's like your favorite musician, you kind of put them on a pedestal. So I think at that point, everything I learned about him was humbling. I expected that the relationship with his father was going to show up in the way that it did, but just the fact that he would buy his father's CDs, cassettes, listen to them, then break them and throw them away — I mean, he was really kind of conflicted by how to embrace his legacy. So that was surprising. In terms of the theme about trying to become a man, there are so many stereotypes about musicians being babies and never growing up and I was pleasantly surprised that he was really pushing himself to find that balance. Buckley seems to belong to a pantheon of young artists whose untimely deaths amplified their mystique — Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, among others. Did you observe any parallels between Jeff's story and theirs, the different contexts notwithstanding? In Jeff's case, (his drowning in the Mississippi River) was a mistake. He didn't stick a needle in his arm, but he was being impulsive and he jumped in the water and it wasn't a safe place to jump in. The artists you're talking about, their careers were just getting started. There's not a lot released on them, so it's like every inch is being sucked up of their legacy, any possible outtakes or demos. Jeff did one studio album and his second album, which I think is excellent, it is not the album he would have put out, obviously. It was demos that were turned into an album (posthumously). But that's all there is. And so, of course, it's going to amplify the kind of legacy and the mythology around his death because it's just too young, too soon. Reflecting on artists whose lives were cut short, there's often a conversation about the pressures of fame and the signs of emotional distress that may have gone unnoticed. Do you think we've gotten any better at recognizing and responding to those signs? Do we take care of them enough? I mean, in the Amy Winehouse documentary, which was excellent, I thought that moment where she was about to go sign her record deal and she just got accepted into a rehab facility that she had applied to and chose not to do it and then sang about it. I mean, she might've had a totally different life. So it's just those missed moments. Asif (Kapadia, the director of "Amy") did a great job in that film to highlight the disconnect with her family. And with Jeff, I do believe that that played into it, for sure. I think missed moments at the end where he was really struggling and he didn't have the resources to stop and find help. I think that would have changed the scope of his future, of course. I know he was reaching out to those around him because he needed help. So whether or not that actually affected the moment that he jumped into the river, I think is a separate conversation. He did not commit suicide, obviously, but I think that he needed help and he was surrounded by a music scene that was very fast-paced and he was trying to slow things down. What are you hoping audiences, especially those who may be unfamiliar with Buckley, take away from this story? I'll throw this to a friend of mine, Alison Klayman, who's also a documentary filmmaker. She went to see it at Sundance, and she called me after and one thing that she said stood out to me. She said, "I just want to go make art after watching this film." And to me, that is the best possible gift that Jeff could give to audiences is to go find your own creativity and express it, because that's all he was. What's the story behind the film's title? It is a beautiful line from "Lover, You Should Have Come Over," but also it's a beautiful sentiment about this film that really has gone on forever for me, for the team that worked on it, and for him and his legacy. So that seemed like the right title.
