BBC Three Draws Up Makeover Competition & Relationship Format

A make-up competition format and a rigged series that explores modern relationships lead the line-up of BBC Three’s latest entertainment slate.

The youth-skewing broadcaster has ordered Glow Up (w/t) from Warner Bros-backed Wall to Wall and Couples on the Couch (w/t) from BBC Studios. The commissions come after the channel, which moved online two years ago, received a £10M (US$14M) budget boost to bolster its move into factual entertainment, formats and entertainment.

Glow Up is an eight-part competition to look for the next big make-up star of tomorrow. It aims to tap into the huge online passion for extreme make-up transformations and will see a cast of hopefuls live and work together as they attempt to prove their potential to industry professionals from the worlds of fashion and film. With regular eliminations, the challenges will test their skills under pressure and give them the opportunity to unleash their creative vision.

Glow Up is exec produced by Melissa Brown and was commissioned by Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three and Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries. The Commissioning Editor is Emily Smith.

Couples on the Couch is a six-part series that offers an insight into modern relationships and the pressures youngsters face by following real-life couples as they bring their sexual and emotional issues to a specially rigged clinic. With the help of a team of experienced therapists, the couples will get to the heart of what’s troubling them, revealing their most intimate secrets, sharing their fears, facing up to uncomfortable truths or making a vital breakthrough via a series of highly-charged sessions.

The series is exec produced Caroline Short and Rob Unsworth and was commissioned by Kavanagh and David Brindley, Head of Commissioning, Factual Entertainment and Popular Factual. The Commissioning Editor is Clare Mottershead.

Kavanagh said, “When we announced that we were extending the focus of our commissioning on BBC Three, we wanted ideas that could bring a new dimension to the channel. Couples on the Couch promises to be a hugely relatable series because it will tackle universal themes for young people in relationships and looks at the changing ways couples deal with different pressures. Whilst Glow Up taps into a hugely popular market and has a competitive element to it that will get our audience talking – we can’t wait to show them on BBC Three.”