BossaNova Media has originated, financed and pre-sold a new factual series fronted by Professor Alice Roberts to Channel 4 in the UK, BBC Select in the US and SBS Australia.
The Land That Made Us (6 x 60 mins), which will be introduced to international buyers at next month’s MIPCOM, is produced by Tectonic Productions, an indie established by Alice Roberts and long-time collaborators Dom Bowles and Theo Williams.
Combining geology, archaeology, history and local colour, the in-production series will follow Roberts as she travels the length and breadth of Britain to explore how geology and landscape have shaped communities and regional identities.
The Land That Made Us is the latest collaboration between Roberts, Bowles and Williams. Williams was series producer on Robert’s archaeology show Digging for Britain, helping to transition the primetime hit from BBC Four to BBC Two. His credits also include Channel 4’s Britain’s Most Historic Towns, all three series of which were exec produced by Bowles. The trio previously developed Fortress Britain, a four-part history series commissioned by Channel 4 and hosted by Roberts in 2022. They will be joined on the new project by geo-archaeologist and producer Sam Stein
Paul Heaney, CEO of Bossanova said: “This project is a reflection of how we’re moving much further up the food chain in terms of how we fully cashflow and originate a show and its development. Alice Roberts came to us directly with her favourite showrunners saying ‘I want to make this’. We represent a slate of Alice’s shows and with her authority and intelligence, coupled with her distinctive warmth and clarity, they immediately have universal appeal. As soon as it was pitched at last year’s Development Day, we knew this was a case of when, not if it would be greenlit. Channel 4 have been fantastic partners all the way through the process and we fully expect this series – having seen the brilliant result – to be a must-watch success.’
Across the six-part series, Roberts will explore the relationship between landscape and identity in some of the UK’s most storied locations. In Cornwall, she explains how the extraction of tin and china clay from the granite that forms the county’s spine continues to influence Cornish identity. In North Wales, slate mining transformed the fortunes of communities while becoming entwined with the region’s long struggle against English occupation. In Fife, Roberts investigates why the historic Scottish county became known as ‘The Kingdom’, while in Derbyshire’s Peak District she explores how geology and industry combined to help make Sheffield the ‘City of Steel’. Meanwhile, the distinctive regional identity of the Cotswolds is founded on wool, wealth and cheese, while erosion and flooding are central to the story of East Yorkshire.
Jon Creamer
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