BBC's River City set for format shake up as Scots soap moves to series

dailyrecord.co.uk:

It’s all change for BBC Scotland’s River City as the acclaimed drama moves to a new multi-series format after the summer. From October 23, River City will air as three distinct series a year with breaks of six weeks in between.

Each series will run for 11 weeks, twice-weekly with new episodes premiering every Monday on BBC iPlayer. The show has been on our screens for over twenty years and the current run will come to an end on Wednesday, August 9, which will see the life of one character hang in the balance after a dramatic showdown goes horribly wrong.

River City, which recently won ‘Best Drama’ at the RTS Scotland 2023 awards, will then take a 10 week ‘on screen’ break over August and September, returning in its new multi-series drama format from October.Gavin Smith, Commissioning Executive, BBC Scotland says: “This new format allows the production team the chance to delve deeper in to storylines and create more ‘must-see’ moments, which River City has become renowned for."When the series returns in October, Montego Street will have had a mini makeover and we’ll be introducing the first of three new characters so there will be lots for the River City fans to look forward to when it returns in the Autumn.” Louise Thornton, Head of Commissioning, BBC Scotland adds: “BBC Scotland is very proud of River City and we know it has an incredibly loyal audience who tune in to follow the drama in Shieldinch every week.

That drama will continue but we are changing the broadcast pattern to allow us to keep delivering value to all licence fee payers whilst at the same time bringing more dramatic storylines to Montego Street.” Martin McCardie, BBC Studios Series Producer for River City said: “‘We are all excited by the new