Sky1 orders raft of new shows

UK channel Sky1 HD has unveiled a number of new commissions, including two dramas, three entertainment pilots and two factual entertainment series.

Drama series The Smoke (8×60′) will be produced by Kudos Film & TV and follows the lives of a crew at a London fire station. Written and created by Lucy Kirkwood (Skins), the show’s executive producers are Jane Featherstone and Noelle Morris for Kudos and Anne Mensah for Sky. Production will start in early 2013 for transmission later in the year on Sky1 HD.

Family drama Moonfleet (2×60′), meanwhile, is based on the John Meade Falkner novel written in 1898. Scripts have been written by Ashley Pharoah (Life On Mars, Ashes to Ashes) and the show will be produced by All3Media-owned Company Pictures.

Both shows were commissioned by Mensah, head of drama at Sky, and are expected to air in 2013.

The three hour-long entertainment pilots ordered by the channel are Ducks Quacks Don’t Echo, from Magnum Media Production; Help Me I’m Human, from Hat Trick Productions; and You & Whose Army, from Endemol-owned Zeppotron.

Ducks Quacks Don’t Echo features a panel of celebrity guests discussing the credibility of supposed facts, while Help Me I’m Human is a comedy chatshow that offers tips on awkward social situations. You & Whose Army is a gameshow in which two celebrity teams compete against each other in various challenges.

In factual entertainment, Sky1 has added to its Winners strand, with three further one-hour specials. In the new episodes, indie Storyvault Films will follow a group of competitive hairdressers; Smoking Pony Productions will produce a film about families obsessed with horses; while Crocodile Media will document the lives of brass bands performing in Yorkshire.

Also in fact ent, Sky1 has extended its run of Princess Productions’ dance series Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew (9×60′), which attempts to put novice dancers on the big stage. The recommission comes as Sky1 signs an exclusive two-year deal with choreographer Ashley Banjo and a separate two-year deal with his Britain’s Got Talent-winning dance troupe Diversity.

Meanwhile, a number of comedy series that are yet to debut on the channel have been recommissioned for 2013, including a second season of Moone Boy (6×30′), a coproduction between Baby Cow, Sprout Films, Hot Cod Productions and Grand Pictures.

Four further episodes of A Touch of Cloth (4×60′) have also been ordered from Zeppotron by Lucy Lumsden, head of comedy at Sky. The first season of the Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror) cop parody series begins on Sky1 in August while a further 1×120′ feature-length film is to follow. The show is executive produced by Brooker and Annabel Jones.

A second season of comedy drama Starlings (8×60′) has been commissioned after its first began airing earlier this year, while a third season of short film series Little Crackers will return this Christmas. The autobiographical tales will feature Paul O’Grady (The Paul O’Grady Show), Jason Manford (8 Out of 10 Cats), Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey) and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), the latter also directing her film.

These commissions come as part of Sky’s commitment to increase its investment in original UK content by 50% over the next three years. The News Corp-backed satcaster has said that by 2014 it expects to invest £600m (US$937m) a year in British programmes across its portfolio of channels.

Stuart Murphy, director of entertainment channels at Sky, said: “Our focus is on delivering shows that our customers feel really, really close to and can utterly fall in love with. The pay-TV world is a great place to be and the stability that comes with 10 million customers gives us the freedom to take creative risks that allows Sky1 HD to stand out from the pack.”

Yesterday, C21 reported that the satcaster had ordered a new documentary series about one of the world’s busiest military air bases, the UK’s RAF Brize Norton.