...albeit for three hours a week, as a dedicated strand of BBC One

BBC Three is returning to terrestrial TV, three years after it was taken off air.

However it won’t be as a dedicated channel, but an hour-long programming strand on BBC One, after the News At Ten on Mondays to Wednesdays.

The Corporation is shaving ten minutes off the national and local news to allow other programming – including Question Time on Thursdays and the Graham Norton show on Fridays – to start earlier. 

The first wave of titles in the BBC Three slot will be the long-awaited second series of Phoebe Waller Bridge’s comedy Fleabag (pictured), followed by new dating format Eating With My Ex and Stacey Dooley fronted make-up competition Glow-Up.

All long-form BBC Three shows currently receive a late-night BBC One broadcast, but the new arrangement is more formal than the existing ad-hoc process.

BBC Three – which has also spawned comedy hits This Country and People Just Do Nothing – will also get a better presence on the iPlayer home page, the corporation said.

Even without this home page boost, requests for BBC Three programming on iPlayer were up 58 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year, with 4.2million requests a week.

The changes take effect from Monday  March 4.

Published: 11 Feb 2019