BBC commissions maiden Syco format

Simon Cowell

The BBC has commissioned a primetime dance talent show from Simon Cowell’s prodco Syco Entertainment and FremantleMedia UK-owned Thames.

The Greatest Dancer (8×60′) will feature talent from across the world of dance, from ballet to jazz, hip-hop to Bollywood, participating in auditions, challenges and live performances.

Syco Entertainment and FremantleMedia’s credits together include The X Factor and Got Talent. This commission marks the first partnership between Cowell’s prodco and the BBC.

Kate Phillips

The show will air on BBC1 on Saturday nights and will be executive produced by Nigel Hall (Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor), global head of television at Syco Entertainment, and Amelia Brown, MD at Thames TV.

The series has been ordered for BBC1 by Charlotte Moore, director of BBC content, and Kate Phillips, controller of entertainment commissioning. The commissioning editor for the BBC is Kalpna Patel-Knight.

“With the continued success of Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC is undoubtedly the home of dance. By launching The Greatest Dancer, we want to give the vast array of dance talent across the UK the chance to shine,” said Phillips.

In related news BBC1 has commissioned All3Media-backed Studio Lambert to make a two-part factual series addressing the behavioural issues of people’s pets.

Nightmare Pets: SOS (2×30′) will see a team of animal behaviourists help Britain’s worst behaved pets and their troubled owners. Charlotte Moore and BBC head of commissioning for natural history and specialist factual Tom McDonald greenlit the series.