BBC TWO UNVEIL £77 MILLION CHRISTMAS LINE-UP

A disturbing warning from the future, unseen footage of two of cinema’s greatest icons and recovered gems of lost episodes of one of the nation’s best loved comedies line up to take the chill off a £77 million Christmas and Winter season on BBC Two.
‘Smallpox 2002’ is a ground-breaking fusion of current affairs, documentary and drama. Set in the alarmingly near future, it traces the UK and the US response to a large-scale bioterrorist attack. The story is pieced together through the testimony of those at its heart, combining both documentary and drama techniques to create a powerful new television format. The weapon used is one of humankind’s most lethal viruses: smallpox.
For Christmas 2001, BBC Two tells some remarkable first time stories. The channel unearths buried treasure with never before heard Marilyn Monroe interviews, Dirk Bogarde’s unseen home movie footage and two ‘Dad’s Army’ episodes which have been lost for over 30 years.
A powerful and contemporary adaptation of Dostoevsky’s classic novel ‘Crime And Punishment’; a fascinating examination of the influence of the Freud dynasty, ‘The Century Of The Self’; and the BBC’s most ambitious gardening series ever, ‘How To Be A Gardener’, head a strong Winter 2002 slate on BBC Two.
Jane Root, Controller of BBC Two, said: "It’s been a terrific year for BBC Two. Viewers have responded well to the changing BBC Two, with its confident offering of rewarding, challenging programmes for grown-up audiences. The channel is on a three year high. We’re the only terrestrial channel to put on share so far this year, and we’re attracting more viewers than we were 20 years ago. That’s quite an achievement when there’s been a 17 per cent increase in multi-channel viewing." (CD)