Channel 4 commissions six dramas and a reality adventure competition series
UK pubcaster Channel 4 has commissioned six drama series, including a second season of The Undeclared War starring Simon Pegg and a romantic drama from Jack Thorne, and separately a reality adventure competition series.
Jack Thorne
The Undeclared War is a cyber-thriller produced by Playground, Stonehenge Films and Universal International Studios, that aired its first season in 2022. It was created by Playground’s founder and chairman Colin Callender and Stonehenge Films’ Peter Kosminsky.
The six-episode second season is written by Colin Teevan and directed by Paul McGuigan. NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution handles international sales.
The Jack Thorne drama is called Falling (6×60’) and is produced by Banijay UK’s The Forge Entertainment. Falling centres on a Catholic priest and a nun who unexpectantly fall in love and must wrestle with what it means for them, their vows and their relationship with God.
Thorne exec produces with The Forge Entertainment’s MD George Faber and exec producer George Ormond. Banijay Rights will distribute the series internationally.
Also from The Forge Entertainment is an adaptation of Channel 4’s 1985 drama A Woman of Substance, which is based on Barbara Taylor Bradford’s novel of the same name about an impoverished, ambitious maid in 1911 Yorkshire who becomes the world’s richest woman.
The 8×60’ adaptation is written by Katherine Jakeways and Roanne Bardsley, who exec produce with The Forge Entertainment’s development producer Joe Innes and exec producer Beth Willis. Charlie Palmer produces and John Hardwick directs.
Channel 4 has also commissioned a six-part legal drama called Pierre, from indie producer The Lighthouse and starring David Harewood in the title role. Written by Roy Williams and John Donnelly, Pierre follows a solicitor in London who begins investigating the death of a young black client and unravels a web of institutional corruption.
Williams, Donnelly and Harewood exec produce with The Lighthouse’s founder and director Hilary Salmon. International distribution of the series will be handled by Sphere Abacus.
Channel 4’s next commission is a six-parter written and created by Daisy Haggard and produced by All3Media’s Two Brothers Pictures. Maya follows the story of mother and daughter as they are forced into witness protection to escape a dangerous threat.
Haggard exec produces with Two Brothers’ MDs Harry and Jack Williams, chief creative officer Sarah Hammond and drama execs Daisy Mount and Alex Mercer.
The final Channel 4 drama commission is an adaptation of Caroline O’Donoghue’s novel The Rachel Incident, which O’Donoghue has adapted with Jen Statsky. The eight-part series will be produced by Fremantle’s Element Pictures, Universal Studio Group’s UCP and Pageboy.
Set in Ireland, the drama follows a student working in a bookstore as she tries to manage unrequited love, friendship and lovers, as the threat of the financial crash looms over her.
Meanwhile, the reality adventure competition series Channel 4 has commissioned is under the working title The Hunt and is produced by CPL Productions and GroupM Motion Entertainment.
Based on an original idea by Redseven Entertainment, The Hunt (9×60’) sees contestants dropped deep into a forest in a game of hide and seek, where the winners could pocket up to £100,000 (US$124,930).
Each episode is built around a dog-eat-dog hunt, where each player becomes either a predator or prey. The prey hold the cash, desperately trying to protect their winnings while completing challenges to win more money. The predators must hunt them down and steal their cash. If they succeed their roles are reversed and the entire game flips.
The Hunt was commissioned following a competitive brief to independent production companies for Channel 4’s Contestable Pot, to find innovative formats to launch in peak time, with support from GroupM Motion. Seven.One Studios International has the international distribution rights.
The exec producers are CPL Productions’ creative director Murray Boland, production exec Anna Dunkley, MD Danielle Lux and exec producer Susy Price. GroupM Motion’s head of creative diversity Deep Sehgal also exec produces.
