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Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three keeps good its promise of making the channel youth-focused, original and a pioneer in multiplatform

Danny Cohen, Controller of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three, today announces a bold and original new season of programmes that maintains the channel's momentum as a youth-focused, creative, high-quality and popular multiplatform network.

Nearly one year on from the channel's successful revamp, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three continues to be the fastest growing digital channel for 16 to 34-year-olds with year-on-year growth in 2008 of 16%. Alongside this audience approval, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three secured the accolade of being voted Digital Channel Of The Year at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

Danny Cohen said: "We've built strong foundations since the revamp last year – with the emphasis on new comic talent, thought-provoking factual programmes, and a joined-up multiplatform approach. We're determined to maintain that momentum and hold true to these values by offering a fresh slate of original programmes firmly targeted at young people.

"We will keep taking lots of risks, improving the channel, and surprising young audiences. In the coming months you'll see everything on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three from vampires, werewolves and ghosts to talented young British butchers and James Corden and Mathew Horne performing synchronised swimming."

Highlights of the season include new comedy from Mathew Horne and James Corden – stars of the multi-award winning Gavin And Stacey – in their comedy sketch show Horne And Corden.

They are joined this season by if.comeddie award-nominees We Are Klang, who will be bringing their very surreal humour to Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three in an original new studio show.

Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three also makes a major push into original drama this season. Following on from the hugely successful drama pilot shown last year, a brand new series of Being Human will begin later this month.

And new drama P.A.s, created by Gabbie Asher, will follow the fortunes of four fabulous personal assistants in the City.

Hard-hitting factual programmes will continue to play a very important role on the channel. In the coming months, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three will cover a range of thought-provoking and important subjects that would find no other place in the youth digital landscape.

Danny Cohen adds: "In 2008, the channel gained recognition for introducing tough and hard-hitting subjects to a young audience. The impetus continues this season with programmes that look at themes including the ethics of globalised food production, the opium trade in Afghanistan, anorexia, drug addiction and alcohol abuse by young teenagers."

The current affairs strand Born Survivors returns with a series of hard-hitting and inspiring documentaries in which young people forced to live with serious issues reveal their strategies for survival.

And Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three also announces a Belief Season – a series of documentaries that explores the surprising ways in which religious faith can impact on the lives of young people.

In factual and factual entertainment, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three will embark on a bold new search to discover the unsung young heroes of professions that don't tend to attract public recognition.

The search for Britain's Young Butcher Of The Year will be followed by contests for other professions including hairdressers.

In My Life As An Animal, eight intrepid volunteers take part in a bold experiment – to try to learn more about animals by actually living with them.

And Natalie Cassidy returns to the channel to front Natalie Cassidy's Bold Britons – a new series of documentaries about young people's lives that covers subjects ranging from learning difficulties to young entrepreneurs.

Programme highlights:

Comedy

Horne And Corden – Written by and starring Mathew Horne and James Corden, this new six-part character comedy sketch show sees the double act introduce a whole host of new characters. Filmed with the boys hosting the show as themselves in front of a live studio audience, new characters include Jonny and Lee Miller – two flamboyant magicians whose magic is left to the audience's imagination, while their dance routines are magnificent. Superman and Spiderman "know each other's work", but when it comes to socialising, are a bit awkward.

We Are Klang – if.comeddie award-nominees We Are Klang bring their unique brand of comedic high-jinks to television. Filmed in front of a live studio audience, the new show is the offspring of traditional sitcom and cutting-edge live comedy.

Pulling – Returning to the channel for a one-off special, the Bafta-nominated Pulling charts the latest highs and lows in the lives and loves of best friends Karen (Tanya Franks), Donna (Sharon Horgan, winner of British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress) and Louise (Rebekah Staton).

Drama

Being Human – Dark, sexy, witty drama Being Human returns for a six-part series. Russell Tovey (Little Dorrit, Doctor Who, The History Boys); Lenora Crichlow (Sugar Rush, Doctor Who, Kiss Of Death) and Aidan Turner (The Clinic) star as 20-something housemates trying to live normal lives despite suffering from very unusual afflications – one is a werewolf, one is a vampire and one is a ghost.

P.A.s – Set against an emotional backdrop of friendship, ambition, sex and filing, P.A.s is a new offbeat drama following the fortunes of four fabulous personal assistants in the City. The show brings together many of the elements that make up everyday office life, through the characters of Lucy, Midge, Sid, Nicole plus Grace – the seemingly perfect, but utterly mysterious girl at the centre of it all.

Current affairs and factual

Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three's Belief Season explores some of the choices facing young people today and the different ways in which they are choosing to live their lives.

The Teen That Time Forgot spends a summer with Deborah Drapper, a 13-year-old who is unlike any other British teen. She's never heard of Britney Spears or Victoria Beckham. She has grown up in a deeply Christian family and her parents have tried to make sure she and her 10 brothers and sisters have grown up protected from the sins of the outside world.

When officials from the small, conservative town of Gloucester in Massachusetts announced that they would be investigating an alleged teenage "pregnancy pact" at a Catholic girls school, the news travelled around the world. In 18 Pregnant Schoolgirls, the film sets out to discover the human story behind the headlines.

The search is on for the UK's top young butcher in an ambitious new format, Young Butcher Of The Year 2009, which celebrates the millions of young British workers whose skills aren't the kind to win them a million pound recording contract. The series aims to find the best the UK has to offer by staging big entertaining events that hone in on one industry so, along with Young Butcher, other episodes will include the Young Hairdresser and Young Chef Of The Year.

The Born Survivors Season returns with a new series of hard-hitting and inspiring documentaries, in which young people forced to live with serious issues reveal their strategies for survival.

Kizzy – Sex, Prams And Exams returns to catch up with Kizzy Neal, the young mum who, pregnant at just 13, gave birth to Kaylib in May 2007.

Vodka, Ö÷²¥´óÐãwork And Me follows a group of young people, aged between 11 and 16, as they reveal the full extent of their alcohol abuse and the effect it is having on their lives, and My 22 Stone Dad And Skinny Me attempts to understand the growing danger of eating disorders among teenagers.

The season is accompanied by self-contained online "minisodes" and nine short films made by young people across the country in collaboration with the Media Trust, with themes ranging from homelessness and growing up in care, to cancer and gang life.

TM2