Sky1 cooks up comedy, Aussie speller

Sky1 in the UK has ordered an Australian family entertainment format aiming to find the nation’s best young speller and a cookery series from a new UK-based production joint venture.

Harry Hill linked up with CPL Productions

Spelling Star is being produced by Remarkable Television, part of Endemol Shine Group, and follows 20 children aged 9-13 as they complete challenges and games to become the UK’s champion speller.

The eight-part show will air later this year. The original was created by Endemol Shine Australia and aired on Network Ten, which has commissioned a second season.

Meanwhile, comedy Harry Hill’s Tea-Time is from Harry Hill and CPL Productions’ new JV Nit TV. The deal will see CPL and UK comedian Hill expand the company together, with the former acting as the production company for all Hill’s programmes.

The first commission is a two-season deal (8×30’) for Harry Hill’s Tea-Time, which sees the comic cast his eye over the world of cookery TV programmes. It will debut on Sky1 in the autumn, with a second season following in 2017.

Nit TV has also tied up a script development deal with the BBC for a sitcom created by and starring Hill, based on his memoir Livin’ The Dreem: A Year In My Life… Probably.

Hill said: “It’s great to be working with Danielle and Murray at CPL and finally finding a permanent home for all my TV ideas. This new teatime show is a natural fit for Sky – we’re both risk takers! The sitcom idea is one that’s been bubbling under for a while and I’m looking forward to working with Shane Allen at BBC Comedy who’s been a great supporter of mine.”

Finally, Sky Arts has ordered a six-part series from Nutshell TV in the UK in which six famous faces take viewers on a personal tour of the British Library.

The as-yet-untitled show will explore the library’s archives, which include Beethoven’s notebook, King Charles I’s private letters, Jane Austen’s writing desk and handwritten Beatles lyrics.