Two Commissions Tern For OU Towns Series

UK indie Tern Television has been commissioned by BBC Two and the Open University to produce Towns, a factual history series presented by Nicholas Crane.
Combining impassioned argument, stunning aerials and dynamic graphics, the series will celebrate some of the most beautiful towns the British Isles has to offer.
Crane showcases four distinct towns - Perth, Scarborough, Ludlow and Totnes - examining how the site, local materials and landscape have combined with the social and commercial history to give each town a distinctive living character.
Each episode stretches from the town's original birth, through its 'golden ages' to the present day - answering the fundamental question of what makes a town unique?
Crane offers informed insight and analysis to paint a colourful history of each town, interpreting the landscape - both natural and built - and the human dynamism, architectural innovation and industrial energy that is unique to each urban hive - carrying each town through the ages.
In Scarborough - a town that throughout its history has been a Viking coastal fort, a market town, a fishing port, a health spa and a seaside resort - the series unveils a two-thousand year record of successive reinventions in its walls, streets and limestone cliffs.
Harry Bell, Creative Director, Tern Television, said: "Towns are the sustainable communities of the 21st Century. This series will put towns back on the map. Using stunning visuals and Nick Crane's unrivalled geographical scholarship this will be a surprising social sciences take on some of our best-loved towns. We'll tell the untold stories of their golden ages, the human stories that underpin their history, reveal their stunning geomorphology, demonstrate that town planning is sexy and, ultimately, ask how and why do towns work."
Towns is a Tern Television production for BBC Two and the Open Univeristy. The series was commissioned by Martin Davidson, Commissioning Editor, History for the BBC and Caroline Ogilvie for the Open University. The series is executive produced by Harry Bell for Tern Television and the series Producer is Colin Cameron. Executive Producer for BBC Two is Sam anthony and BBC Executive Producer for the Open University is Emma De'Ath.
(KMcA)