Channel 5 forms Bad Habits

Viacom-owned UK terrestrial Channel 5 has commissioned a four-part factual series that sees young women swapping their modern lives to spend a month living in a convent.

Ben Frow

Bad Habits (working title) is being produced by Crackit Productions and follows the transformation in five young women sent to live in a working convent in East Anglia where home comforts, smartphones and alcohol are banned.

The doc is the first time in more than a decade that a Catholic convent has allowed a television production company in to film and comes after a year of negotiations with the church.

Elaine Hackett, Hannah Springham and Paula Trafford are the executive producers overseeing an all-female team in front of and behind the cameras.

The commission follows the recent revelation of an ambitious slate of original documentaries by Channel 5 under the guidance of director of programmes Ben Frow and factual commissioning editor Guy Davies.

The channel is preparing a series of docs under a ‘Modern Britain’ strand. Brinkworth Films is working on The Abused, a 90-minute film on domestic violence, filming consenting victims with hidden cameras to capture the horrifying effects of the crime as it happens.

Another feature doc, Rape, is from Lambent Productions and follows unfolding rape investigations. Ten people will tell their stories to camera mixed with details of how cases against an alleged attacker are won or lost.

Guy Davies

Building on the highly acclaimed film Slum Britain: 50 Years On, which was praised during a Parliamentary debate earlier this year, ITN Productions has been commissioned to produce a new film, Black Britain: 50 Years On.

The film is based on the anniversary of Enoch Powell’s notorious Rivers of Blood speech and will explore multi-culturalism, immigration and race relations in Britain in the five decades since.

The 1×90’ film will be executive produced by ITN Productions head of topical programmes Ian Rumsey alongside editorial director Chris Shaw. Discussions are underway to appoint a high-profile BAME director.

Brinkworth Films is also bringing back The Accused after its successful first outing as a single doc earlier this year. In either three or four parts, the series will follow an individual accused of a serious crime for the first time, from the moment of arrest to the verdict.

Maroon Productions has also been given the go-ahead for another four-part season of Gangland, which drops cameras off in specific locations and allows gangs to film themselves. The new season will focus on gangs outside London. Mentorn Media is also working on Inside the Gang (3×60’).

Maroon has also had Inside the Sex Business (3×60’) greenlit. The shows meets people who use the services of sex workers in Britain and finds out why.

Two series fronted by former politician Michael Portillo, announced last week, are also included on the slate.