BBC Three Announces 'Thirteen'

BBC Three has announced a new original 5x60 drama series written by rising star Marnie Dickens entitled 'Thirteen'.

The show is commissioned by Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, and Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, and produced by BBC In-House Drama Production, England.

BBC Three has released a synopsis for the upcoming drama:

Today is the day Ivy Moxham will escape from the cellar that's been her prison for the last 13 years. Today is the day she'll return to her home, to her family, to her life. Today is only the beginning.

Thirteen explores how to pick up the threads of a life half-lived and how to survive as a family under the greatest pressure: how to feel again, chance love again. It is a psychological drama about who to trust when you can't even trust yourself. Ivy Moxham is a young girl. Ivy Moxham is a woman. Ivy Moxham is whoever you want her to be.

Marnie Dickens said: "I've always been fascinated by the resilience of the human spirit in even the most extreme situations and am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this story to life on the BBC."

Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, added: "I'm delighted Thirteen is coming to BBC Three. Marnie Dickens' script is compelling, a real page-turner, and I'm looking forward to sharing all the plot twists and turns with the BBC Three audience."

Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, says: "Bold subject matter, a remarkable young point of view and crucially a new writer's first original drama. Thirteen is an emotional rollercoaster with shocking twists that gives us a real opportunity to innovate on BBC Three."

It is produced by BBC In-House Drama Production, England and Executive Produced by Elizabeth Kilgarriff. It will shoot in and around Bristol this summer. Casting will be announced in due course.

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre

(IT/JP)