We Are England (2022 TV programme)

We Are England^[1] is a regional current affairs documentary programme shown on BBC One.^[2][3] The programme is made by six teams around England, based in Birmingham, London, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle and Norwich. The programme airs six original half-hour documentaries each week, with each week themed around a different topic; the first theme was Mental Health.^[4] The programme replaced regional current affairs show Inside Out. A notable change was that each We Are England episode is a single half hour documentary, whereas Inside Out normally aired a collection of short-form pieces in its 30 minute slot. Another change is a cutback in the number of teams, from 11 regional hubs to six.

We Are England
Genre	News, current affairs
Country of origin	England
Original language	English
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC One BBC One HD BBC News Channel BBC Three
Release	26 January 2022 (2022-01-26) – present
Related
Inside Out BBC Scotland Investigates (1993)

Broadcast

Aisling O'Connor, the head of TV commissioning for BBC England, commissioned 120 episodes to be broadcast in 2022, with the first being shown on 26 January 2022 at 7:30pm.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} In-addition to being shown on BBC One and BBC iPlayer select episodes are also repeated on BBC News.^[10]

The first four episodes of We Are England aired on Wednesdays at 7:30pm. After the fourth Farming England,^[11][12][13] the series moved to a timeslot of 8:30pm. This move was due to the BBC's decision to schedule a new 'soap hour' over its two main channels with a regular timeslot for EastEnders on BBC One at 7.30pm.^[14]

In May 2022, the BBC announced a raft of closures, restructures and cost-cutting measures.^[15] One of these was the decision not to renew We Are England for a third series.^[16]

In July 2022,^[17] a number of documentaries from the We Are England strand (including ones featuring Bimini,^[18][19] Jayde Adams^[20][21] and Jassa Ahluwalia)^[22][23] were repeated on BBC Three, alongside a number of similarly formatted 30 minute documentaries. However, rather than being grouped under the We Are England or Our Lives^[24][25] brands, these new documentaries were now just being listed under one off titles such as Filthy Business^[26][27] and Queen of Trucks^[28][29] on the BBC iPlayer and in programme guides.

Episode list

We Are England launched on 26 January 2022, airing 60 original half hour documentaries over 10 weeks. In February 2022, an episode about a cryptocurrency^[30][31] trader from the Bossing It theme (about young entrepreneurs) was pulled from broadcast at late notice, citing "editorial concerns".^[32][33] Another episode was later taken down from BBC iPlayer, Unfiltered, a BBC Cambridgeshire and East documentary originally broadcast in that region on 26 January 2022, which featured 19 year old dancer Mia and had an appearance from TV personality Vicky Pattison.^[34]

No.	Title	Subjects	Airdate
1	Mental Health[35]	Poignant stories exploring mental health issues around the country	26 January 2022
		''Veterans Road to Recovery'' (Manchester)
		"Unfiltered" (Cambridge)
		Nature on My Mind (Somerset)
		Fighting My Phobia (Coventry)
		Cold Swim (Tynemouth)
		Becoming Dad (Watford)
2	The Night Shift[36]	Who is keeping our country and industry moving while we sleep?	2 February 2022
		Life Blood (London)
		Down at the Docks (Bristol)
		Night Nurses (Birmingham)
		Our Bin Lorry Life (Peterborough)
		One Night in Newcastle
		One Night at the Fish Market (Grimsby)
3	Bossing It[37]	Young entrepreneurs striving to set up successful businesses in the face of adversity.	9 February 2022
		Fighting for Fashion (Exeter)
		Steffi and the Chocolate Factory
		Photo Me Famous
		The Container King
		The Beauty Boss
4	Farming England[38]	How England's farms are taking on new challenges and keeping their businesses afloat.	16 February 2022
		When the Boats Come in (Falmouth)
		The Crisp Farmers (Hereford)
		My Norfolk Farm
		First Time Farmers
		Farming on the Spectrum (Oxfordshire)
		Crisis on the Farm
5	Belonging	Exploring the many ways community spirit and support changes our lives.	23 February 2022
		The Real Vicars of Dibley
		Our Skate Park Life (Hastings)
		Our Fight Club (Middlesbrough)
		Our Derby Dance School
		The Real Phoenix Nights (Clacton)
		Cornwall's Last Raceway
6	A Place Called Home	Six personal stories highlight the complex issues we face in finding a place to call home.	7 March 2022
		Hanging on to Home (London)
		Van Life (Bristol)
		Staying Afloat (Cambridgeshire)
		Homes for the Homeless (Nottingham)
		Students in Suburbia (Newcastle)
		Fighting for Our Homes (Leeds)
7	Sporting Heroes	We meet sporting heroes across England who are challenging the status quo.	14 March 2022
		Swim School
		Mick Walks for England
		Make Me a Jockey
		Fighting for Me
		Football Fat Fighters
		Bouncing Back
8	Made in England	Stories that champion England’s manufacturing and craftmanship.	21 March 2022
		The 007 Shoe Factory
		Make Mine a 99
		Inside the Jet Engine Factory
		A Very British Bike Factory
		Our Northern Jacket Empire
		The Biggest Smallest Car Company
9	True Crime	Discovering new evidence in unsolved murder cases in England.	28 March 2022
		Finding Michelle Bettles
		Who Killed Barry Rubery?
		Knife Angels
		Who Killed Dad?
		Our Adam
		Why Did My Brother End Up Dead?
10	My Hometown	Six celebrities take us on a personal journey of discovery in their hometowns.	4 April 2022
		Graft: Uncovering My Roots
		Bimini Bon Boulash: Homecoming Queen
		Jassa Ahluwalia: Am I English?
		Livvy Haydock: My Hometown
		Kema Kay: My Hometown

References

1. Tonja (27 August 2014). "CIRCOM Regional". CIRCOM Regional. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
2. "BBC One - We Are England - Available now".
3. "BBC One - We Are England".
4. "BBC One - We Are England, Mental Health, Unfiltered - Cambridge".
5. "BBC commissions 120 We Are England documentaries". 6 January 2022.
6. "We Are England replaces Inside Out on BBC One". 7 January 2022.
7. "BBC England launches new current affairs programme as platform for underserved audiences". 10 January 2022.
8. "We Are England to redraw BBC TV regions". 25 January 2022.
9. "BBC announces new regional current affairs strand for England". 6 January 2022.
10. "BBC One - We Are England, Mental Health, Cold Swim - Tynemouth".
11. "BBC One - We Are England, Farming England, My Norfolk Farm". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
12. "BBC One - We Are England, Farming England, When the Boats Come In - Falmouth". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
13. "BBC One - We Are England, Farming England, The Crisp Farmers - Hereford". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
14. "BBC launches new soap hour". RXTV info. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
15. "BBC announces raft of closures with CBBC and BBC Four to be online only". The Guardian. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
16. "BBC to move CBBC and BBC Four online". BBC News. 26 May 2022.
17. "BBC One - We Are England".
18. "BBC One - We Are England, My Hometown, Bimini Bon Boulash: Homecoming Queen".
19. "We Are England - My Hometown: Bimini Bon Boulash: Homecoming Queen".
20. "We Are England - My Hometown: Jayde Adams: Coming Home".
21. "BBC One - We Are England, My Hometown, Jayde Adams: Coming Home".
22. "BBC One - We Are England, My Hometown, Jassa Ahluwalia: Am I English?".
23. "We Are England - My Hometown: Jassa Ahluwalia: Am I English?".
24. "BBC One - Our Lives".
25. "BBC One - Our Lives - Available now".
26. "Filthy Business".
27. "BBC Three - Filthy Business".
28. "BBC Three - Queen of Trucks".
29. "Queen of Trucks".
30. Stephanie Balloo (9 February 2022). "BBC pull documentary on young refugee Hanad Hassan who claims he turned £37 into £5.9m - Birmingham Live". birminghammail.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
31. "BBC pulls We Are England episode | News". Broadcast. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
32. "BBC pulls another episode of We Are England current affairs show". the Guardian. 14 February 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
33. "BBC cryptocurrency documentary pulled from air at last minute". TheGuardian.com. 10 February 2022.
34. "BBC One - We Are England, Mental Health, Unfiltered - Cambridge". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
35. "BBC One - We Are England, Mental Health". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
36. "BBC One - We Are England, The Night Shift". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
37. "BBC One - We Are England, Bossing It". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
38. "BBC One - We Are England, Farming England". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2022.

External links

• We Are England at BBC Online