Channel 5 makes heavy Barcroft order

11-year-old Arya Permana (centre) at school

The UK’s Channel 5 has commissioned three one-off documentaries from London-based indie Barcroft Productions for its Extraordinary People strand.

World’s Heaviest Child, The Solar Boys (working title) and The Butterfly Boys (working title) feature young people battling extraordinary medical anomalies. They include 11-year-old Arya Permana from Indonesia, who weighs in at 30 stone.

The one-hour docs have been commissioned by C5 commissioning editor for factual Guy Davies. Executive producers for Barcroft are Sam Barcroft, Peter Wyles and Jude Parker.

The commission is the latest UK broadcast order for Barcroft Productions following the ratings success of science documentary The Day the Dinosaurs Died for BBC2.

In related news C5 has also commissioned a factual entertainment series from Simon Andreae’s FremantleMedia-backed London prodco Naked Entertainment.

Secret Admirer (working title) gives people who have harboured a secret crush on someone the chance to confess their feelings on screen and see if the love is reciprocated or not.