UKTV has announced an increase in commissions for 2018 after ratings success for its originals in 2017.
Last year, Gold picked up its highest ever ratings for Murder On The Blackpool Express and UKTV Originals made up eight of Dave’s top ten rating shows.
UKTV will increase its total of commissioned hours by around a third from independent producers in 2018 versus 2017. UKTV is also expanding its co-productions and moving into commissioning drama for the first time.
The first new format to be revealed, for UKTV’s entertainment channel Dave, is Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier (8×60"), a new comedy format hosted by obsessive worrier and organiser Jon Richardson, as he attempts to analyse, assess and log every single one of his worries. He is joined each week in studio by comedians and a range of experts. Using a mix of VT, studio set-pieces and archive Jon and his guests will explore exactly how severe each worry actually is before filing it accordingly in his own ‘Worriedness Index’ – a Minority Report-style digital log of every anxiety in existence.
The show is produced by Talkback Thames and has been commissioned by UKTV senior commissioning editor Iain Coyle.
Romesh Ranganathan is to front Judge Romesh (10×30′) for Dave, holding court over real-life disputes. Each week Romesh will preside over genuine disagreements and mete out comic judgement. The show is produced by Hungry Bear Media, it’s commissioned for UKTV by Joe McVey, commissioning executive.
There are also two new documentary series, the first Cop Car Workshop (10×60′) from Blink Films where viewers will see inside one of the Britain’s leading police car workshops. Cop Car Workshop is executively produced for UKTV by Joe McVey, commissioning executive, for Dave.
Inside the Vets (15×60′) for W is made by Brown Bob Productions. This brand-new documentary series follows the daily challenges faced by the dedicated team at one of Britain’s busiest veterinary clinics. Commissioned by deputy director of commissioning, Hilary Rosen with UKTV commissioning executive Natalie Rose as executive producer.
Richard Watsham said: “2018 will see UKTV operate increasingly as a full-service broadcaster, with year on year growth in the volume of original hours and the breadth of genres we cover. Expanding our output further allows us to work with a larger than ever pool of on and off-screen talent and provide some of Britain’s best producers a different route to get their ideas to air.
We’re particularly excited to be working with Jon Richardson and Romesh Ranganathan, two fantastic Taskmaster alumni, who will help us continue to lead in the development of bold, new comedy entertainment formats. With another significant push into original programming this is a genuine statement of ambition for UKTV.”
Staff Reporter
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