We are England replaces the long-running Inside Out strand on BBC One regional services in England. There will be six regional editions of the show, broadcast in two series of 10 programmes each.
Themes for the first series range from mental health and the housing crisis, to unsolved murders and young entrepreneurs striving to set up successful businesses in the face of adversity.
The programme will be made from hubs in Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, London and Norwich. There’ll be 10 weekly themes per series, but each of the six hubs will deliver different half hour film on the weekly theme, tailored to each region. Counting all the regional editions, there will be 60 editions per series.
Predecessor Inside Out launched in 2002, as part of an investment in regional TV on BBC One at the same time ITV was cutting its regional service. Each BBC region had its own version of the show which covered a range of reports each week. Due to cost-cutting, reports were increasingly shared across regional editions. BBC One HD carried a different regional edition of Inside Out each week, in the absence of a regional copy of the channel.
For We are England, most regions will combine to share one of the six editions. For example, BBC One in the East and West Midlands will join up to show the edition originating from Birmingham. In total, We are England will be on air for 20 weeks a year, split across two series.
We are England starts on Wednesday 26th January 2022 at 7:30 on BBC One regional services in England.
[Image: BBC Promotional image]