James R | On 17, Mar 2016

BBC Three is building its documentary line-up with the commission of two new original shows.

Since becoming an online channel, BBC Three has continued to serve up its signature array of factual programming, including Stacey Dooley’s Sex in Strange Places and the return of the BAFTA award-winning Life and Death Row. Now, the channel is adding another two non-fiction feathers to its bow, exploring how drugs and addiction are affecting young people in Britain today.

The Last Days of Legal Highs

Examining different sides of Britain’s legal high epidemic, The Last Days Of Legal Highs confronts a generation-defining shift in drug culture as a psychoactive substances bill to ban legal highs becomes law on Wednesday 6th April 2016.

The film pivots around two ‘Head Shops’ in Portsmouth that are doing a busy trade in legal drug dealing, selling all kinds of legal highs, from Spice to Gogaine.

On the eve of the ban, before the government makes untested chemicals illegal, the film follows those who sell, take and deal legal highs, and the consequences of each.

The Last Days Of Legal Highs also features exclusive access to the elusive Dr Z – creator of some of these substances, and a man determined, chemically and legally, to find a way to flout the ban and keep the Head Shops open.

The Last Days Of Legal Highs will all be available on Tuesday 5th April. It will be accompanied by a series of original shortform content built around the main film, taking a 360-degree look at the world of legal highs.

Chasing Dad

Chasing Dad follows a father’s heroin addiction from his son’s perspective.

After years of acrimony and estrangement, Phillip Wood seeks out his father, a heroin addict, to try and understand what’s happened to him since they were separated. Phillip’s father is seriously ill and, over months of filming, Phillip’s visits force father and son to confront some uncomfortable truths about their past.

Developed from Philip’s graduation film, Chasing Dad offers a stark exploration into a subject that significantly affected his childhood. This intimate documentary will show addiction from the other side and challenge our assumptions about how families can rebuild their broken relationships.

Chasing Dad will be available from bbc.co.uk/bbcthree soon.

 

“BBC Three is here to inform, educate and entertain young people, and cover issues that matter to them,” says Damian Kavanagh, Controller BBC Three. “Chasing Dad and Legal Highs will stimulate debate about how drugs affect young people today, from two very different perspectives.”

Danny Horan, BBC Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, adds: “I’m really proud of these films that tackle a challenging subject the BBC Three audience demands. They have an unflinching honesty and, individually, provide unique perspectives that bring the viewer closer to the story.”

For more on what’s coming soon to BBC Three, check out our regularly updated preview guide for the online TV channel.

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