Channel 4 is to mark its 25th anniversary this autumn with a series of hard-hitting dramas including new films from veteran directors Ken Loach and Peter Kosminsky.

The channel is broadcasting Kosminsky's two-part drama about British-born Muslim siblings, Britz, in the week of the anniversary on November 2.

Britz stars Riz Ahmed and Manjinder Virk as a brother and sister who find that Britain's anti-terror laws have set their lives on a collision course.

Loach's film, It's a Free World... investigates the world of migrant workers through the story of a recruitment agency boss who finds she can make easy money from this shadowy world.

Channel 4's third landmark drama of the season will be Boy A, starring Andrew Garfield as a young man who has spent most of his life in prison for a childhood murder.

Other dramas include Exodus, a recasting of the Old Testament book in the unlikely setting of the Kent seaside town Margate, and The Relief of Belsen, starring Jemma Redgrave, about the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp.

The channel is also campaigning to highlight the high levels of illiteracy among British children, including documentary Can't Read Can't Write, which visited a school where the headteacher has taken radical steps to combat the problem.

Channel 4 News correspondent Alex Thomson presents a Dispatches special on the effectiveness of teaching methods, while Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan will front a one-off special, Richard & Judy's Best Kids' Books Ever.

Another Dispatches film will follow the trail of the Chinese human traffickers responsible for kidnapping and selling thousands of children.

Other documentaries include This Is Civilisation, a four-part series fronted by Matthew Collings, inspired by the landmark Kenneth Clark series, shown on BBC in 1969.

Sharia Street follows a group of non-Muslims from Harrogate who attempt to live for three weeks according to strict Islamic principles.

Channel 4's comedy offering will include Comedy Showcase, six one-off comedies featuring the likes of Stephen Mangan, Martin Freeman and Reece Shearsmith.

Russell Brand will go it alone in front of a studio audience in his new series, Russell Brand's Ponderland.

On the More4 channel, Channel 4 at 25 will chart the history of the channel and show selections from its archive.

Youth-oriented channel E4 will show Get Me the Producer, which follows aspiring young producers as they compete for a contract working in TV, and features former BBC director-general Greg Dyke.