UKTV has commissioned Middlechild for another new ten-part series of Canal Boat Diaries for U&Yesterday and streaming service, U, having licensed the format rights from the BBC.
The sixth series of Canal Boat Diaries will take viewers through countryside and canalscapes in the south of England. Winding down through Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire, the series will end up where it all started for helmsman Robbie Cumming, before he began filming his adventures.
The first UKTV-commissioned series of Canal Boat Diaries (Series 5) delivered one of U&Yesterday’s strongest ever box-set launches on free streaming service U.
The executive producer is David Sumnall at Middlechild and the series producer is Stuart Woodman, who has produced all previous series.
Canal Boat Diaries has been commissioned for UKTV by Tracy-Jean (TJ), commissioning executive, with Helen Nightingale, head of factual and factual entertainment, and ordered for U&Yesterday by Gerald Casey, channel director, and Hilary Rosen, director of commissioning.
Tracy-Jean, UKTV commissioning executive, said, “Our first original series of Canal Boat Diaries was such a joy to make and so loved by our audience that we immediately decided to jump back on board the Naughty Lass with Robbie and Middlechild. Leading us down a brand new network of canals, expect to see familiar southern sights from a different perspective and at a pace we all would like to travel at.”
U&Yesterday’s channel director, Gerald Casey, said, “Canal Boat Diaries has been a real hit with U&Yesterday’s audiences with strong launch numbers across the board.”
Canal Boat Diaries S6 is filming now and will air in 2025 on U&Yesterday channel and will be available on U, joining a slate of original programming including Bangers & Cash, Secrets of the London Underground, Dream Car Fixers and Masters of Reinvention.
Robbie Cumming said, “For me this is going to be about having fun and enjoying my journey as much as possible. In May 2025 I will have travelled in my narrowboat home for a full decade. So, to celebrate this I’ll be retracing my very first journey – albeit in reverse and with some rivers and canals I’ve never been on before.
“In the last series I encountered some of the most challenging canals I’ve ever waded through, spent a lot of time down the weed hatch, broke windows, lost equipment, got stuck in locks and dropped my phone in the canal. So, who knows what will happen – I’m just hoping for a bit more luck this time!”
Pippa Considine
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