David Attenborough, Louis Theroux, Michael Parkinson and more to feature in new BBC iPlayer 'From the Archive' collection
Viewers will be able to watch classic shows from the BBC archive for free on BBC iPlayer
Louis Theroux documentaries, classic interviews from chat show Parkinson and archive series featuring Sir David Attenborough will form part of a brand-new section on BBC iPlayer called "From the Archive".
Over 450 programmes will be made available on iPlayer from today (Monday 25th September), including Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends series and his Storyville documentary Killing for Love.
The new section will also include classic programmes from BBC stalwarts such as Attenborough, Michael Parkinson, David Frost and Terry Wogan, as well as archive interviews with famous icons from Muhammad Ali to Martin Luther King.
More clips, episodes and series will be made available in the coming years, according to the BBC.
Dan McGolpin, the BBC's controller of programming and daytime, said, "For millions of people, BBC iPlayer is a reliable place for finding something good to watch whenever they choose to look. It will now provide an even richer choice of quality BBC programmes with this new category, From The Archive, making available hundreds of gems from the past including some historic documentary series and interviews with cultural and sporting icons."
The news comes as the BBC prepares to close down the BBC Store on 1st November 2017. The buy-to-keep service allowed viewers to download digital copies of old BBC series once they left the free-to-view BBC iPlayer, but struggled to attract users against competition from subscription services including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Much of the content in the new iPlayer From The Archive section has been available in different parts of the BBC website in the past, but the BBC hopes that by bringing the programmes to BBC iPlayer they will be discovered by new audiences.
