Dubplate Drama is a British television drama series, created, written and directed by Luke Hyams, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 11 November 2005. The series follows the plight of teenage grime MC Dionne, as she tries to achieve her dream of obtaining a major-label record deal to help provide for her grandmother. The series was described as "the world's first interactive drama series", as it allowed viewers to vote on the outcome of each episode through an interactive text service. Thus, two alternative versions of every episode were filmed, with the version broadcast depending on the outcome of the viewer vote. The series featured appearances from a number of well-known British grime and hip-hop musicians, including Rodney P, Dappy, Tulisa, Fazer, Big Narstie and Tim Westwood. Aside from being shown on Channel 4, the series also aired on MTV Base and was made available on demand via social networking siteMySpace. Despite a late-night timeslot, the first series, comprising six fifteen-minute episodes, earned a peak audience of 480,000 viewers and was critically well received. Across the course of the six-week broadcast, the series gathered a combined audience of 3.3 million viewers. Subsequently, the second series was awarded the fixed timeslot of 12.30am on Thursdays, with episodes being rerun on E4 the following weekend. The second series was also extended to twelve episodes, which ran at an extended length of thirty minutes each. A third and final series, comprising two sixty-minute episodes, broadcast in 2009. The final episode was sponsored by the NSPCC as part of their Childline campaign, to highlight the dangers of knife and gun crime.
Release
The first series was released on DVD via Revolver Entertainment on 29 October 2007. The second series followed on 4 February 2008. The third series currently remains unreleased on DVD. Each of the DVD releases contain a number of exclusive bonus features, including alternative scenes, music videos and an alternative final episode of the second series. A mixtape featuring music used in the first series was issued on 3 April 2006. A second mixtape followed on 22 October 2007. An official soundtrack to accompany the second series, entitled Dubstep Drama, was issued on 8 October 2007.
