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Welcome to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland commissioning page.

We are committed to working with and developing the best creative talent in the industry, commissioning content that reflects and engages our audiences and bringing Scotland to the rest of the UK and beyond. We work across ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland tv channel, ´óÏó´«Ã½ One Scotland, iPlayer, Radio Scotland and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds and we welcome ideas that can work across platforms and reach audiences wherever they consume media. We need ideas that stand out in a busy media environment, get people talking and reflect the diversity and the needs of our audience.

There are two main elements to our strategy – maintaining our strong performance on our linear services and growing our audience on iPlayer and Sounds.

On linear, we need habit forming content that we can play in long runs and returnable series so we can build brands. Titles on tv that are working for us include Scotland’s Home of the Year, A View from the Terrace and Beechgrove. We also need live moments where everyone can gather and celebrate – TRNSMT festival is a good example and sport continues to deliver big audiences - and topical content that reflects that mood of the nation like Debate Night.

On iPlayer, we are looking for high quality box set series, with standout title, talent and imagery across all genres. It’s a competitive space so these elements are all key to ensuring a prominent position on the platform. Recent iPlayer hits for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland have been Mayflies, The Ice Cream Wars and The Agency:Unfiltered, the latter of which brought in a young, underserved audience.

We are investing more in podcasts for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds over the next year and are keen to build on award winning titles like The Cruelty, Bible John: The Creation of a Serial Killer and launch new titles that have the format and returnability of Sacked in the Morning.

And please do think multiplatform. We would love to hear ideas that could start as a podcast and develop to tv. Or tv ideas with an accompanying podcast that could extend the audience consumption or bring a new audience to the title.

Alongside ideas that have resonance for audiences in Scotland, we continue to work closely with our network colleagues on the Commissioning UK strategy to bring through bigger ideas with 50/50 funding from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Content. We have significant targets across each genre and are looking for those ideas that can feel authentically rooted in Scotland but can also connect with audiences across the UK. In factual, some of our new crime series coming through are in this space, so now we are looking for the next big stories to tell from the world of crime and beyond. We are also looking for doc series with incredible access at their core and are interested in new innovative ways of telling historical stories. In drama, we have now completed the Guilt trilogy so what’s next in this space? And in comedy, we continue to look for a high quality ´óÏó´«Ã½ One sitcom.

Please do bring big, high impact ideas to us and we can help navigate and champion for Scotland.

You can find more detail on our current opportunities across the genres on the commissioner profile pages, below. It’s rolling commissioning and we use PiCoS so please do reach out to the commissioners with your ideas.

Finally, we are always keen to explore working in partnership and collaboration with other organisations. Proposals that have other finance attached or that have the potential to bring in other funders are also attractive.

Thank you for your interest in working with us.

Best wishes,

Louise Thornton, Head of Commissioning

New Opportunities

New Gaelic-language digital-first factual-entertainment opportunity

´óÏó´«Ã½ ALBA and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland are looking for ideas for new short-form factual-entertainment series aimed at younger digital audiences (18-24). The priority is to deliver factual-entertainment in a fresh and engaging way with the very best of Gaelic talent front-and-centre and behind the scenes.

We envisage episodes of around 8-15 minutes that are custom-built for ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer and ´óÏó´«Ã½ ALBA YouTube. At the heart of the series should be a hooky or compelling format. Think about why the audience will want to return for another bite. Episodes should be fast-paced and colourful with bags of fun, wit and attitude. Please note, however, that we’re not looking for straight documentary.

We welcome interest from Scottish production companies based in the Highlands and Islands or in co-production with production companies based elsewhere. Pitches must show how production companies will support production and the development of Gaelic-speaking talent in the Highlands and Islands.

Proposals should also include two of the following elements in and/or from the Highlands and Islands.

• Talent

• Contributors

• Locations

• Production

New formats can have a mixed language-scheme, but the predominant onscreen language should always be Gaelic.

We expect the tariff to be circa £1k per minute and we would expect producers to tailor their editorial ambitions to reflect this, or work with additional funders to increase the overall production budget.

Initial ideas (short treatments) should be submitted before 12pm on 27.03.25. Please include information about on and off-screen talent, including supporting video for new onscreen talent, a budget total, clearance proposals for ´óÏó´«Ã½ ALBA YouTube and a company biography.

Pitches should be submitted to gaelicdigitalcommissioning@bbc.co.uk

This opportunity forms part of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland and ´óÏó´«Ã½ ALBA’s two-year commitment to support new Gaelic-language production opportunities in and from the Highlands and Islands that includes drama alongside factual-entertainment formats.