Six to Start

Six to Start, Kudos Film and TV and the BBC launch LIBERTY NEWS

Spooks: Code 9, the hotly anticipated new BBC Three series from Kudos Film & Television that will transmit on the channel this August, is set to be supported by a raft of groundbreaking interactive elements. These will enable viewers to get even closer to the world of conspiracy and espionage portrayed in the series, which is set in 2013 and focuses on a rookie MI5 team formed after London suffers a catastrophic nuclear attack.

The show will be trailed by a viral marketing campaign created by Agency Republic that uses new face mapping technology which allows people to place themselves in the action and feature in a video of a high pressured undercover operation.

LIBERTY NEWS, www.libertynews.co.uk, a fictional future news agency, forms the central point of the cutting-edge multi-platform experience produced for BBC Three by Kudos Film and Television and leading alternate reality game specialists Six to Start. An advanced online news site with a twist, www.libertynews.co.uk will update with breaking news stories containing extra information, photos and videos, just seconds after events happen as the episode transmits on BBC Three.

In addition to providing a multi-dimensional setting for the show and enabling BBC Three viewers to further immerse themselves in the unpredictable world of Spooks: Code 9, visitors will be able to contribute their own video, comments and photo uploads to the site, search out information about the main characters, and participate in live Q&A sessions with inhabitants of the Spooks: Code 9 universe. Executive Producer for Six to Start, Dan Hon, explains, “The universe of Spooks: Code 9 is fascinating and, with www.libertynews.co.uk, fans of the show will be able to explore the backstory of its characters and world as if it were completely real.”

Going live in the weeks prior to the transmission of Episode 1, www.libertynews.co.uk will feature web 2.0 applications such as an interactive map of London showing destroyed and contaminated areas, quizzes for emergency training, and live polls asking visitors to vote on the locations of new cities to be built.

Jo Twist, BBC Three Multiplatform Channel Editor, continues, "We are very excited about the potential of this kind of alternate reality experience to appeal to our digitally savvy audiences in live and instant ways. We hope the experience suits a fresh generation of Spooks fans."

www.libertynews.co.uk is the latest of Kudos’s interactive programme based online offerings which include their BAFTA award winning SPOOKS INTERACTIVE, the interactive experience created by Kudos and Hoodlum and produced by Linda Paalanne for series six of the award winning BBC One drama series Spooks. SPOOKS INTERACTIVE won the 2008 BAFTA TV Award for Interactivity and BAFTA Craft Award for Interactive Innovation: Content.

Linda Paalanne, Digital Content Producer for Kudos Film and Television said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Six to Start and the BBC on this project. The alternate reality experience is a great way to give the BBC Three audience the opportunity to imagine themselves as a part of the changed world that is Spooks: Code 9 and really get involved in further fleshing it out.”

LIBERTY NEWS is a Kudos and Six to Start production for BBC Three. Created and executive produced by Dan and Adrian Hon for Six to Start and Linda Paalanne for Kudos, with Rosie Allimonos executive producing for the BBC. Written by Tony Walsh (Phantom Compass) and directed by Adrian Hon.