BBC Three Greenlights ‘Life And Death in The Warehouse’ From BAFTA-Winning Team Behind ‘Killed By My Debt’ & ‘Murdered By My Father’

BBC Three has commissioned its latest factual drama from the BAFTA-winning BBC Studios team behind Killed By My Debt, Murdered By My Father and Murdered For Being Different.

Life and Death in the Warehouse from highly-regarded BBC Studios Drama exec Aysha Rafaele stars Peaky Blinders’ Aimee-Ffion Edwards, In My Skin’s Poppy Lee Friar and Line of Duty’s Craig Parkinson as workers and a manager in a Welsh warehouse, telling of the exploration of working conditions in modern distribution centers.

In the “customer-fixated” culture of these centers, “idle time” (toilet breaks and conversations) and “pick” or “aspirational” rates (number of items picked per hour) are constantly measured with 24-hour surveillance, which can lead to disciplinary hearings and ruthless “off-boarding” (sacking). In a desperate attempt to keep her new job, Megan (Edwards) presses pregnant Alys (Friar) to get her “pick rate” up, putting Alys and her baby at risk.

As with previous projects from Rafaele’s team, the 60-minute single will attempt to pick apart modern society’s darker realities. Her most recent was The Left Behind, about far right activism in Wales, which also starred Edwards and was directed by Life in the Warehouse director Joseph Bullman. Rafaele is soon to depart BBC Studios to join Bodyguard exec Elizabeth Kilgarriff’s indie Firebird Pictures.

“This factual-based drama will no doubt raise some questions,” said BBC Three Channel Controller Fiona Campbell.

“We know that this is what the best factual programs do, they help people understand the world they are living in and drive conversation about stories relevant right now.”

BBC Three relaunches on linear TV tomorrow, six years after it came off air.