BBC to spring opera on commuters

Flashmobs became a cult phenomenon in 2003

BBC Three plans to broadcast a "flashmob" opera, taking commuters by surprise at a London train station .

Flashmob - The Opera will see opera singers and 65 musicians joined by an impromptu crowd of people who will be alerted to the event by text message.

The event is in the digital channel's autumn line-up, announced on Tuesday.

Other highlights include a second series of cult comedy Little Britain, Tracey Emin's debut as a film director and a "head on" season about cancer.

BBC Three controller Stuart Murphy said: "Flashmob - The Opera is a real first which means it is a real risk, just what we love doing on BBC Three."

The flashmob phenomenon swept the globe last year. It involves crowds being mobilised by text or e-mail, told to meet at a location and given specific instructions about how to behave.

Tracey Emin's film Top Spot is about growing up in Margate

"I have been thinking for a while about how we do opera for this audience, and hope we have cracked it with this exciting collaboration between BBC Classical Music and BBC Comedy Entertainment," Mr Murphy said.

The performance will include parts of famous operas such as Madam Butterfly and Don Giovanni, alongside a new story about a love triangle and a man's obsession with football.

The second series of Little Britain promises "new and even more peculiar characters" while a new sitcom, My Life in Film, will star My Family actor Kris Marshall.

Tracey Emin's film Top Spot, about growing up in her home town of Margate, Kent, will also be shown on the channel.

It draws on the experiences of Emin - who was raped in the town aged 13 - as well as telling the stories of six current teenage girls.

'Hurrah for Cancer'

The film will get a cinema release at the end of the year.

The You, Me and Cancer season aims to give the channel's core 25-34-year-old audience "a deeper understanding and awareness of the reality of being diagnosed with, and treated for, cancer".

It will include Breast Cancer: The Operation, to give "a uniquely detailed view" from diagnosis to treatment, plus a personal story called Hurrah For Cancer by a comedian living with kidney cancer.

Crime and court will be the subjects for two new dramas, Conviction and Outlaws, while other new shows will focus on poetry, marriage and parenting.