Channel 5 takes Alaska’s Drugs for Fun

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has ordered a formatted documentary series about recreational cocaine use from independent production company Alaska TV.

Doing Drugs for Fun is a three-parter in which four cocaine users follow the drug’s trail from the Colombian rainforests to the streets of the UK.

On their journey, they take part in search and destroy missions with the Colombian military and meet cartel killers, dealers and smugglers, as well as civilians caught in the crossfire, before returning home to face criminals involved in the drug’s distribution, users in rehab and families torn apart by its use.

Doing Drugs for Fun will be distributed internationally under the title Cocaine: Living with the Cartels, by UK production funding and distribution outfit Drive. WME will represent the format in the US.

It is exec produced by Alaska TV founder Chris Fouracre and creative director Ian Lamarra, and made out of Alaska TV’s office in the UK city of Brighton.

“The series is emotionally engaging, occasionally jaw-dropping but ultimately redemptive, as the four contributors come to terms with the business of cocaine and the human suffering it engenders,” said Fouracre.

“Our aim was to see if the journey (of almost constant misery) would change their attitudes to taking the drug in the future. The results were revelatory.”