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UK TV channel owned by UKTV
This article is about the British television channel. For the channel formerly known as UKTV Drama, see
Alibi (TV channel)
.
Television channel
Drama
is a British
free-to-air
television channel broadcasting drama (and, to a lesser extent, comedy, sci-fi) programming in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the
UKTV
network of channels.
History
[
edit
]
The channel launched on 8 July 2013,
[1]
replacing
Blighty
.
[2]
The channel was initially launched on
Freeview
channel 20, which was previously occupied by
Gold
,
[3]
and on
Sky
the channel was launched on channel 291, in the overspill area of the Entertainment section. It was moved to channel 166 on 24 July after purchasing the slot used by
PBS America
(formerly named PBS UK in 2011).
[4]
The channel launched on
Virgin Media
on 14 August on channel 190. In September 2014, UKTV blamed the channel for their 7% profits fall. In September 2018, Drama and
Really
were added to
Virgin Media Ireland
.
A timeshift channel, Drama +1, was launched on Sky and Virgin Media on 16 September 2019, replacing
Travel Channel +1
. On 25 January 2021, it was announced that the timeshift channel would be taking over CCXTV's Freeview slot (channel 73) on 1 February 2021, with CCXTV ending transmission.
[5]
On 1 February 2022,
BBC Three
relaunched on Freeview channel 23 which shifted all the channels from that slot until Freeview 82 down a place, meaning that Drama +1 was now on channel 74.
[6]
On 28 March 2022, Drama +1 moved to Freeview 60
[7]
[8]
as a limited reach channel, as channel 25 was used by UKTV for their female skewing
W
channel,
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
which means that
Dave ja vu
took the COM4 slot from Drama +1 on Freeview channel 74.
[7]
Programming
[
edit
]
The channel is positioned as a home for British dramas from the last 40 years. The channel has featured classic drama series such as
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
;
The Cinder Path
;
Cranford
;
Lark Rise to Candleford
;
Pride & Prejudice
;
Sharpe
; and
Tipping the Velvet
.
[14]
As well as all these classic drama titles, a number of more recently produced BBC One daytime drama series have acquired a primetime slot on Drama. These series include
Father Brown
, which has been showing in an 8pm slot on Friday nights and which has a spin-off series, called
Sister Boniface Mysteries
. This period detective television series about a Catholic Nun
[15]
[16]
is a co-production between BBC Studios and Britbox in North America,
[17]
and has debuted as a free-to-air series directly on Drama, without getting an airing first on BBC One. In addition to drama programmes, the channel shows a number of classic BBC sitcoms in a teatime slot (usually between 5:25 pm and 8 pm) with
Last of the Summer Wine
,
Keeping Up Appearances
and
Birds of a Feather
currently being repeated in May 2024.
[18]
Current
[
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]
Previous
[
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]
References
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]
External links
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