| U&Drama | |
| Language: | English |
| Area: | United Kingdom and Ireland |
| Owner: | BBC Studios |
| Parent: | UKTV |
| Picture Format: | 1080i HDTV (SDTV feed downscaled to 576i) |
| Sister Channels: | Alibi U&Dave Eden Gold U&W U&Yesterday |
| Former Names: | Drama (2013–2024) |
| Replaced: | Blighty CCXTV (Drama +1, Freeview only) |
| Timeshift Service: | U&Drama +1 |
| Terr Serv 1: | Freeview |
| Terr Chan 1: | Channel 20 Channel 60 (+1) |
| Online Serv 1: | U |
| Online Chan 1: | Watch Free (UK and Ireland Only) |
U&Drama is a British free-to-air television channel broadcasting drama (and, to a lesser extent, comedy, sci-fi) programming in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the UKTV network of channels.
The channel launched on 8 July 2013,[1] replacing Blighty.[2] The channel was initially launched on Freeview channel 20, which was previously occupied by Gold,[3] and on Sky the channel was launched on channel 291, in the overspill area of the Entertainment section. It was moved to channel 166 on 24 July after purchasing the slot used by PBS America (formerly named PBS UK in 2011).[4] The channel launched on Virgin Media on 14 August on channel 190. In September 2014, UKTV blamed the channel for their 7% profits fall. In September 2018, Drama and Really were added to Virgin Media Ireland, and at 20 July 2024, they rebranded to U&Drama.
U&Drama HD is the higher resolution version of U&Drama.
A timeshift channel, Drama +1, was launched on Sky and Virgin Media on 16 September 2019, replacing Travel Channel +1. On 25 January 2021, it was announced that the timeshift channel would be taking over CCXTV's Freeview slot (channel 73) on 1 February 2021, with CCXTV ending transmission.[5] On 1 February 2022, BBC Three relaunched on Freeview channel 23 which shifted all the channels from that slot until Freeview 82 down a place, meaning that Drama +1 was now on channel 74.[6]
On 28 March 2022, Drama +1 moved to Freeview 60[7] [8] as a limited reach channel, as channel 25 was used by UKTV for their female skewing W channel,[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] which means that Dave ja vu took the COM4 slot from Drama +1 on Freeview channel 74.[7]
The channel is positioned as a home for British dramas from the last 40 years. The channel has featured classic drama series such as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet; The Cinder Path; Cranford; Lark Rise to Candleford; Pride & Prejudice; Sharpe; and Tipping the Velvet.[14] As well as all these classic drama titles, a number of more recently produced BBC One daytime drama series have acquired a primetime slot on Drama. These series include Father Brown, which has been showing in an 8pm slot on Friday nights and which has a spin-off series, called Sister Boniface Mysteries. This period detective television series about a Catholic Nun[15] [16] is a co-production between BBC Studios and Britbox in North America,[17] and has debuted as a free-to-air series directly on Drama, without getting an airing first on BBC One. In addition to drama programmes, the channel shows a number of classic BBC sitcoms in a teatime slot (usually between 5:25 pm and 8 pm) with Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances and Birds of a Feather currently being repeated in May 2024.[18]