EastEnders star to front BBC3 cannabis documentary

Programme featuring Martin Fowler actor to form part of Dangerous Pleasures season focusing on drugs, drink and sex

BBC3 has commissioned a programme in which former EastEnders actor James Alexandrou examines the effects of cannabis smoking as part of a season of programmes called Dangerous Pleasures for early 2011.

The programme, Cannabis: What's the Harm?, is being made by BBC Bristol with the co-operation of the Avon & Somerset police drugs squad and the UK Border Agency. In 2008 the actor, who played Martin Fowler in the BBC soap, was pictured in the Sun allegedly smoking cannabis.

Another programme in the Dangerous Pleasures season sees two sets of parents covertly spying on their teenage children in a foreign resort. Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents is being made by independent producer RDF Media.

The documentary Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys will be fronted by Afghan presenter Nel Hedayat, while Inbetweeners actor Charlotte Hinchcliffe will present Ready, Steady … Drink, a programme about binge drinking.

Also featuring in the season will be Is Oral Sex Safe?. Fronted by actress Jaime Winstone, the Leopard Films production investigates how oral sex could cause cancer.

The three-part series High: How Drugs Work will tackle the science of recreational drug use and will be made by Pioneer Productions West.

Dangerous Pleasures is the last major BBC3 commission overseen by Danny Cohen, the channel controller who last month took over running BBC1. He is currently overseeing BBC3 in addition to his BBC1 job until a successor is found, according to a spokeswoman.

Charlotte Moore, the BBC commissioning editor for documentaries, said that the season reflected the BBC3 audience's "hunger" for factual shows.

"BBC3 continues to do what no other channel does in providing documentaries and current affairs for a young audience," she added.

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