Speaking at Edinburgh TV Festival, Patrick Holland announced three new series that will be heading to BBC Two.

The commissions include 21st Century Women (w/t), a series fronted by Kirsty Wark which will explore who women are today and who or what defines their identity. Raising questions about subjects such as consent, identity and gender, work, love and life at home, issues that that have evolved over the past 20 years, the two-part series will brings women of different ages together to unpick the layers and debate what it is to be a woman in the 21st century.

Also announced is Idris Elba’s Fight School, a four-part series that will see Idris set up an experimental fight school in London which will provide an outlet for young men and women whose circumstances around their upbringing have not given them the opportunities to make the right choices and avoid street violence. He will enlist seven recruits from across the UK and teach them the discipline, focus and determination needed in fight training in the hope the lessons they learn can help transform their lives.

BBC Two will also tell the definitive story of the Premier League in The Premiership: A Whole New Ball Game (w/t). With unprecedented access to players, agents, journalists and business brains, this four-part series concentrates on the story of the league’s first decade to tell the insider’s story of how our 100 year old national game was transformed into an on and off soap opera that continues to enthral audiences across the globe.

Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two, says: “With standout documentary series like Hospital Special: Covid-19 and Once Upon A Time In Iraq, genre leading factual entertainment like Race Across The World and Romesh’s Misadventures and innovative scripted pieces like Giri Haji and Alma’s Not Normal, BBC Two has had a fantastic year.”

“The public health crisis will not be allowed to get in the way of more great series for 2020, across the genres we’ll be bringing the most challenging and exciting voices to our screens. We’ll dive into the business and the personalities behind one of the biggest cultural revolutions in modern sport, telling the story of the Premier League as a premium documentary box set. Global superstar Idris Elba will bring his passion for boxing to help change the lives of some of the UK’s struggling young people. And Kirsty Wark will be taking on the charged debate of identity politics and modern feminism. This is BBC Two at its best; fearless, exciting, complex and premium.”

The Premiership: A Whole New Ball Game (w/t)

The Premiership: A Whole New Ball Game (w/t) is a new 4x60' documentary series, charting the creation and evolution of the Premier League from 1992 to 2000.

It will tell a definitive insiders’ story of how successive groups of business brains, players, agents and journalists utterly transformed our 100 year old national game and created an off-and-on pitch soap opera that continues to enthral an audience of nearly five billion people around the world for 38 weeks a year.

Focussing on individual stories told first-hand by a cast of famous and less-familiar faces, the series will explore the extraordinary experience of those central to the rapid evolution of the most high profile and lucrative sporting competition the world has ever seen - many of them young men from ordinary homes who overnight became millionaires and cultural icons amid the shifting attitudes and social change of 1990s Britain.

Built at its outset on a high stakes business decision, wildly increasing sums of money have continued to define success and failure in the Premier League. This series will unpick the relationship between the business and the ballgame, the back room machinations and the iconic match day moments, to tell a definitive history of the opening decade of the 'greatest show on earth'.

The Premiership: A Whole New Ball Game (w/t), a 4x60’ for BBC Two, was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two and Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, History and Religion. It is made by Story Films in association with Studio 99. The Executive Producers are David Nath and Peter Beard. The Commissioning Editor is Hamish Fergusson.

Idris Elba’s Fight School

In this heartfelt and authentic series, Idris will be setting up an experimental fight school in London, which will provide an outlet for young men and women whose circumstances around their upbringing have not given them the opportunities to make the right choices and avoid street violence.

With deep consideration and consultation from local organisations, Idris will enlist seven recruits from across the UK, in the hope of teaching these young adults discipline, focus and determination - all key elements in the world of fight training. The life lessons learned from Fight School will hopefully give them the tools, determination and direction to transform their lives and stay with them long after the immediate challenge.

Audiences will see the recruits return home after their gruelling but life-affirming journeys, armed and empowered with their newfound knowledge and fresh perspectives that they will have gained in Idris Elba’s Fight School.

Living and training together over six intense months, they will battle it out against other amateurs and work towards a big showcase finale. If they can stick it out, this no-holds-barred, rough and ready experience will motivate them to make positive changes, but only if they are open to them. Whilst Idris will be mentoring the young adults, they will be trained in the ring by the hardest and toughest in the boxing industry, who also happen to be ex-world class champions. This raw yet thought-provoking series will demonstrate what can happen when people are given a fighting chance to turn their lives around.

Idris Elba says: “I see history constantly repeating itself and can empathise with these kids. I believe there is a better way to teach people that you don’t need knives to protect yourself. It’s a proven fact that in urban areas where fight schools open, violent crime drops dramatically - which is why I wanted to do this project, in hope that we can change people’s lives. I want this project to be an ongoing presence that will continue to provide support and education for the community for years to come.”

Rick Murray, Managing Director for Workerbee, adds: “We are thrilled to be going on another journey with Idris and hope we can really show that when people are given the right tools and attention to help them, they avoid making decisions that often have catastrophic consequences.”

Idris Elba’s Fight School, a 4x60’ series for BBC Two, was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two and Catherine Catton, Head of Commissioning, Popular Factual and Factual Entertainment. The BBC Commissioning Editor is Michael Jochnowitz. It is made by Workerbee and Green Door Pictures. The Executive Producers for Workerbee are Rick Murray and Michelle Chappell and Lorraine Burgess for Green Door Pictures.

21st Century Women (w/t)

This two-part series explores who women are today and who and what defines their identity.

Never before has the definition, meaning and experience of being a woman been so hotly contested and this series will focus on the complex arguments around identity and explore the explosive issue of consent

The series will bring together Kirsty Wark and a cast of five women with strong and differing opinions to candidly explore the issues facing women in 2020.

They will all be interested in speaking up for what they believe in and unpicking the layers of what it is to be a woman in the 21st century. Have things moved on or gone backwards in the last 50 years since the Equal Pay Act? Can we really agree on what a woman is? Is there more pressure on women now to look ‘perfect’ or can women now dress as they please? Is a workplace flirtation OK or unacceptable ? Does more need to be done on the road to equality? Or has gender politics gone too far?

Our group of women will come from show-business, comedy, business and the millennial perspective and they will stay together for four days for each episode to discuss and share their own life experiences.

The series aims to be thought provoking, opening up a space where all six women can observe, ask questions and analyse topics including identity, body image, consent, power and equal pay. They will talk candidly about their own life experiences and they will go out to meet people who are at the centre of some of the biggest debates about women in the UK today.

21st Century Women (w/t) a 2x60' series for BBC Two was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two and Gian Quaglieni, Executive Commissioner. It is made by BBC Studios Documentary Unit. The Executive Producer for BBC Studios is Debbie Christie.