Posted: Wed., Jul. 14, 1999, 11:00pm PT

BBC live marathon to usher in '00

PBS, ABC join Brit b'caster for '2000 Today'

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LONDON -- The BBC has unveiled details of its millennium plans, the key event to be a live 27-hour TV marathon beginning New Year's Eve and co-produced with 58 other broadcasters around the world.

The kickoff to the next century, dubbed "2000 Today," and in which PBS and ABC are the American partners, will follow events as the next century is ushered in around the globe.

Expansive slate

BBC director of television Alan Yentob, however, stressed that the programming "isn't simply a one-night stand." Speaking in southeast London at Royal Greenwich Observatory, which as the home of the prime meridian plans to be the first to usher in the millennium, Yentob outlined programming for both the run-up to 2000 and the following year.

2000 offerings

Included in the shows will be the Gothic fantasy-drama series "Gormenghast," and the $15.5 million "Millennium Music Live" concert series. BBC Scotland plans to strand volunteers on a remote Scottish island for a year to make the docu-drama "Castaway 2000." A BBC exec said whoever takes up the offer will have to be "hardy." "BBC FutureWorld," an interactive touring exhibition displaying the future of TV, also is planned.