WBD reality brand TLC to relaunch as FTA channel, new commissions announced

The Big Bang Theory is part of TLC’s new line-up

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) today announced that its reality and lifestyle pay TV network TLC will be relaunched as a free-to-air entertainment channel in the UK and Ireland next year.

The new-look brand is set to be rolled out in January 2026 and will be home to scripted content such as sitcom Mike & Molly, hit comedy series The Big Bang Theory and its spin-offs Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.

Those shows represent WBD’s biggest order of scripted entertainment across its FTA linear portfolio in the UK and will be combined with new unscripted series.

Upcoming programming includes a new version of satirical celebrity panel show Mock the Week, produced by Angst, and travelogue series Zero Stars, produced by CPL Entertainment and starring comedians Roisin Conaty and Sara Pascoe, who take a tour of the world’s worst reviewed tourist experiences.

Graham Lafferty, senior VP of content strategy and networks at WBD UK & Ireland, said: “We are thrilled to announce a new-look line-up of content for TLC in the UK and Ireland for January 2026 – and that we are able to bring the channel to more viewers with a move to free-to-air in the UK.

“Through TLC, we are excited to commission and curate a broad entertainment channel that spans both scripted and unscripted content, including award-winning shows like The Big Bang Theory, through to a new-look British comedy staple like Mock the Week.”

Meanwhile, WBD’s factual, lifestyle and entertainment brand Quest has commissioned Francis Bourgeois & Chris Harris: We Saved a Train (w/t). The 8×60’ series, from Fremantle label Naked West, follows engineering obsessives Francis Bourgeois and Chris Harris as they take on the challenge of restoring a dilapidated diesel locomotive and bringing it back to life.

Other Quest programming additions for 2026 include Guz Khan’s Custom Cars, produced by Ricochet, Yorkshire Auction House S7 (18×60’); Celebrity Yorkshire House S6 (6×60’); Derbyshire Auction House S3 (12×60’, all produced by STV Studios Factual); Shed & Buried S8 (20×30’); Shed & Buried: Classic Cars (10×60’); Shed & Buried: Classic Bikes (6×60’, all produced by HCA Entertainment); and food format Adam Richman Eats Italy (10×30’, Raise the Roof Productions).