A trilogy of documentaries on contemporary Britain by award-winning film-maker Adam Curtis and new comedy from Frankie Boyle will be among the expanded range of on-demand-only content to feature on the souped-up BBC iPlayer.
The enhanced iPlayer, unveiled by BBC director general Tony Hall on Tuesday as the new "front door" to the corporation's output, will have a greater range of content commissioned for the on-demand service rather than TV, including original drama and comedy short films.
Original Comedy Shorts for the iPlayer will include Frankie Boyle and Bob Mortimer's Cookery Show, a satire on interactive TV.
The iPlayer short will be controversial comedian Boyle's first work aired by the BBC since he left BBC2 panel show Mock the Week in 2009.
Danny Cohen, the BBC director of television, said the corporation would "make sure everything he [Boyle] does on the BBC has our standards and values".
Others who will feature in the iPlayer comedy short films, to be available from May, include Meera Syal, Matt Berry and Stewart Lee.
Curtis will make three iPlayer-only films exploring themes of hypocrisy, deception and corruption in contemporary Britain – Out There, At the Mountains of Madness and Dream Baby Dream – available from July.
Hall said of the new iPlayer: "It's a staging post. This journey will never end. It's just the start.
"iPlayer is a metaphor for the BBC it allows us to inform, educate and entertain but in new interesting, creative ways we can only imagine at the moment. We're beginning to bring life to the vision we've all got of the iPlayer being the front door for many more people to the BBC.
"We want you to be able to find content you might not have known you might like or at all, in a much more personal and effortless way."
Last autumn, in his first major speech since becoming director general, Hall said he wanted more personalisation on iPlayer, including "personalised collections of content".
The new iPlayer goes some way towards doing that, with new features such as an improved "recommendation engine" so that instead of being asked if they want to watch the show again as happens currently, viewers will be offered the next episode of a series or given suggestions for other shows.
But more is due to come, with Dan Taylor, the head of BBC iPlayer, saying there are "more exciting plans" on the horizon "in the personalisation space".
Hall has talked about the upgraded iPlayer offering more personalisation and being a key plank of his "My BBC" strategy, treating audiences "like owners, not just licence fee payers".
On Tuesday, Hall said: "You'll be able to find so many more programmes you might like – and I hope everyone enjoys the new design. It's just a first step to reinventing BBC iPlayer, the best online television service in the world."
The BBC is also introducing "collections" of curated programming on iPlayer linked to particular national, sporting or cultural events and anniversaries or BBC TV and radio seasons.
Among the first is a BBC4: Great War Interviews Collection, featuring 13 previously unseen interviews with first world war veterans and civilians, curated by Sir Max Hastings and available on iPlayer from Tuesday.
Next month will bring a guided tour of Matisse: The Cut-Outs Exhibition at Tate Modern by Goldie; while in May there will be a Chelsea Flower Show collection in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society, offering a tour of the show gardens.
Other exclusive iPlayer content will include My God, It's Full of Fans, a film commissioned to accompany BBC2's history of science fiction documentary series My God, It's Full of Stars; and the new series premiere of People Just Do Nothing, a comedy commissioned after being piloted on the service via the BBC3 Comedy Feeds initiative.
BBC iPlayer will also have revamped responsive design, updated mobile and tablet apps and new features including more advanced recommendations, smarter search and image-led navigation.
Other new iPlayer features promised by the BBC include improved access to channels and categories; "the best ever playback experience"; a new-look favourites section that updates with the latest episodes of a show available; and an opt-in preview on computer, tablet and mobile browsers and a range of connected TVs.
Launched on Christmas Day 2007, iPlayer's last major upgrade was in 2011.
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