[RhysJR]

So, today the BBC and Netflix announced the cast of a new drama that's about to begin production about the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing.

www.bbc.com 

BBC and Netflix announce casting for Lockerbie as filming begins
The cast will include Connor Swindells, Patrick J. Adams, Merritt Wever, Peter M…
  Source: www.bbc.com

This follows Sky and Universal Stufios announcing in January they have begun production of a drama...about the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing.

www.sky.com 

Lockerbie | Sky Originals | Sky.com
The incredible true story of Britain’s deadliest terrorist atrocity and the most…
  Source: www.sky.com

All very coincidental that two dramas with the same title about the same topic have begun priduction so close to each other. Will either side be concerned by the similarity in what both are making?



To broaden this out, is there any other examples of similar programmes being made close together like this? Slightly differently, I know both ITV and BBC had shows called Starstruck out last spring (BBC a comedy and ITV a talent show).

[Neil Jones]

This happens quite a lot in film. When the 2016 Jungle Book came along, another film company was due to release Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (which as it turned out was a darker version of Jungle Book). They delayed it to avoid a clash with the Disney film, but it was later flogged to Netflix.

The other obvious example is what happened with Tom & Jerry and Bugs Bunny - two cartoons with similar themes around a piano.

TV... Well a lot of stuff doesn't get the pilot stage so its plausible it happened more times than we'll know about.

[Ash101]

I believe there are 2 films/series in the works about the Prince Andrew Newsnight situation. One for Netflix & another for Amazon Prime

[JAS84]

I saw an article in a newspaper a couple of days ago which mentioned a cancelled drama for one of the streamers... called Survivor. They have heard of the reality show by that name, right?

[RhysJR]

This from Channel 5 could easily qualify


twitter.com 

[Brekkie]

There were two War of the Worlds series around a few years ago, and before that The Borgias and Borgia ran around the same time for a few years - one a US production, the other a collaboration across Europe.

Disney have recently released The Artful Dodger, just a couple of years after CBBC had Dodger.

[Stooky Bill]

Two channels doing programmes on the same thing usually happens because there's an anniversary of something and more than one channel or producer notices it. Although of course the way that subject is treated and what angle it's covered from varies

One good example was a couple of years ago when both ITV and Channel 4 commissioned documentaries marking the 25th anniversary of the trial of Louise Woodward.

[Neil Jones]

Disney have recently released The Artful Dodger, just a couple of years after CBBC had Dodger.

Disney version is a sequel apparently Oliver Twist and set in Australia, which is what supposedly happened to the Artful Dodger in the book - he was transported there on a crime.

CBBC version is a prequel apparently to Oliver Twist, although the age of the character goes a bit screwy after a while compared to its source.

So they are only "duplicate" by the common source.

[James2001]

I guess there was Sherlock and Elementary, though apart from being modern set Sherlock Holmes, they were both quite different.

[tellyblues]

Everybody is fishing from the same pond for content and you even see it in quiz shows where very similar questions pop up across different shows in a short space of time. Writers do work across different shows but not always.