Groundbreaking music drama goes interactive The phrase "groundbreaking project" next to the word TV is a genuine rarity at the best of times, but forthcoming Channel 4 show DubPlate Drama promises to be just that. Genuinely interactive, fronted by Polydor-signing Shystie and broadcast and edited over several different platforms, the six-part series encapsulates many elements that could point the way forward for the future of music television. Instigated by the Brixton-based youth marketing group Liverty after they were handed a script from urban video director Luke Hyams, the series essentially follows the trials and tribulations of Dion, a young female MC, played by Shystie, and her search for success. Shot in the fast-paced style of a music video, each 13-minute episode concludes with a moral cliffhanger. Viewers must then vote and decide whether Dion chooses path A or path B. The winning thread is then picked up the following week. Each episode will also feature a strong musical soundtrack, including one key music scene, as well as cameos from the likes of Roll Deep, MS Dynamite, Rodney P, Crazy Titch and Swiss from So Solid. Broadcast from mid-October on Channel 4 and E4, each weekly instalment will be premiered exclusively 24-hours in advance on the official PSP website, as well as being presented as a family-friendly edit on the plasma screens in every UK branch of Footlocker. Talks are currently ongoing with several mobile networks with a view to offering exclusive content. Hyams believes the strength of the series will be how it taps into the consumption patterns of a young urban audience. "In the urban scene that I see, the culture is not to go out and spend £15 on a Roll Deep album that doesn’t really sound like Roll Deep," he says. "Kids don’t want to buy a Nas CD. They want to go out and buy mix tapes or record off pirate radio or make their own beats on Fruity Loops. They’re interested in making their own stuff and listening to their friends. That’s why those things don’t translate on a major." The viral element to mobile is crucial to this, he adds - not only as a catalyst to creating debate around the social issues that the series centres, but also to how the plot unfolds. "I want to be a pioneer on mobile," says Hyams. "If you watched how that terrible happy slapping craze went like wildfire, it showed you how things spread on mobile. That’s how I want this to spread. We can start by giving clips away and let kids send them on. That’s what we’ve aimed to do with this series. To be continued..."