Factual TV has been hit harder than other genres in the commissioning downturn, so producers are having to work a lot smarter to stay ahead. Pippa Considine reports
Work for factual producers has definitely taken a tumble. Those with returning titles are to some extent insulated, but industry-wide there are increasing challenges.
“It’s become difficult to run an indie because of reduced budgets, because of the time lag in commissioning, because of the difficulty of getting new ideas over the line,” sums up Back2back founder David Notman-Watt.
This year’s Pact census, while showing an overall steadying of TV production in the UK in 2024, also observes a sharp contraction in the value of factual and factual entertainment commissions, down by 23.6% from 2023.
Buyers have become comfortable with lower risk strategies – fewer, bigger, alongside returners. This leaves little room for smaller indies that rely on getting new ideas commissioned.
Of course, there are major new shows. National Geographic title Top Guns: the Next Generation from Zinc Media’s Rex is one. The Zinc Group – with nine UK unscripted labels – has seen business pick up in 2025, with its strongest first half trading performance since 2020.
But TV and film workers’ union Bectu released a survey earlier this month showing 39% of freelancers out of work in February and March.
Budgets for factual are shrinking across the board and there’s an ongoing shift to renewals, which made up around 40% of commissions in 2024, according to Ampere research for Screenskills. The Pact census reaches 71%, when looking at returning series by value.
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“We’re lucky because we’ve got returning shows,” says Notman-Watt. These include true crime titles for CBS True Crime and Rise Film, seven years of Help! My House is Haunted for WBD and The World’s Deadliest Weather for 5. “Any indie at the moment that doesn’t, I suspect they are in dire straits.” He knows of production companies that have closed recently and predicts further closures, as cash flow worsens.
At Expectation, there are key returners Murder 24/7 for the BBC and The Essex Murders for Sky. The indie’s creative director of factual and drama Colin Barr says: “It’s one advantage of factual. You’ve got the ability to create returnability in lots of different ways.”
Murder 24/7 is “present tense, with visual signatures throughout that enhance a sense of pace and simultaneous action…There are lots of original features, such as elaborate split screens and use of text on screen. “We are currently looking at how to take that mechanic – the IP – and apply it to different territories.
“The big thing for me is that we’ve had to learn to really maximise our own IP…. Can you take this two-years of work that you’ll have done and think about it more like a five-year plan…Can you turn it into a drama, into a feature film, into a book? I feel that if I’m not able to give the things that we do a second life or a third life, that I’m not doing my job.”
True crime lends itself to dramatic treatments. In fact, the all-round popularity of true crime has defied the downturn.
Sky is one channel that has scored with true crime, contributing to the 50 or so documentary commissions that it made last year. According to Ampere year on year data to end of April ’25, Sky commissioned more documentary titles than ITV.
UKTV is “toying with going back into true crime,” says head of factual and factual entertainment commissioning at UKTV Helen Nightingale. The service is open to the shape of it, having previously screened features, three-parters and an anthology.
Commissioning primarily for the streaming umbrella brand U, Nightingale explains that they’re not after traditional feature formats. The entertainment aspect of factual is increasingly important. And while they’re not ordering 20-parters any longer, three-, four- or five-part series allow them to make more noise.
“When we look at potential commissions, we’ll always ask, are they repeatable? We’re looking for returning series. The phenomenal Bangers and Cash franchise, for example. Or the recent Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake which is recommissioned for a second and third series, and a Christmas special.
Talent is key, Guy Martin has worked well for the audience. Coming up is Repair Shop’s Dom Chinea on a mission to create a workshop in Cornwall, a five-parter from Beagle Media for U&Yesterday. Nightingale is open to YouTube talent.
Pippa Considine
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