Channel 5 has boarded Wildflame Productions’ international special Yellowstone: Super Volcanoes.
The show is Wildflame’s first commission for discovery+. It will be broadcast in the UK by Channel 5 and sold internationally by Flame Distribution.
Yellowstone: Super Volcanoes (1 x 90 min) explores a powerful threat from beneath that lies seven miles below America’s most famous National Park, Yellowstone. With catastrophic global consequence, a super-eruption at Yellowstone could trigger an ice age event causing long-lasting climate change, plunging the world into a nuclear winter, destroying crops and impacting the global economy.
With an immediate fallout zone affecting three-quarters of the US, the debris and ash would block out the sun, and its effect would be felt all around the world, but how probable is such a cataclysmic event? This ground-shaking special reveals the terrifying power of super volcanoes, looking at eruptions around the world, as explosions from the past and technology of today attempts to understand the world’s most powerful volcano.
Paul Islwyn Thomas, CEO of Wildflame, says: “Yellowstone: Super Volcanoes is both a study of one of nature’s biggest natural enigmas and the story of how some of the world’s greatest scientific minds are working to better understand volcanic behavior and early warning signs of earth-shattering events. It’s a compelling subject, which allows us the opportunity not only to do a deep-dive in terms of science and natural history, but also illustrate the true threat the Super Volcano poses. Ambitious factual programming is at the centre of our growth strategy, so we are delighted to have secured such a high-profile commission.”
“It’s the scale of the story that is so astounding,” adds Llinos Griffin-Williams, Executive Producer, Factual & International Co-Productions, Wildflame. “Working with world-leading experts in volcanology, we will bring together new science, historical understanding and rich archive to better understand this powerful force of nature and what it means for us all.”
Adrian Padmore, Commissioning Editor, Factual and Factual Entertainment at Channel 5, says: “With outstanding footage, exclusive access, new understanding and expert interviews, this special is going to be one of the biggest factual programming highlights of the year and I can’t wait for our viewers to see it.”
Shot in 4k, Yellowstone: Super Volcanoes is being distributed by Flame Distribution outside of the UK/Eire, US and English-speaking Canada.
Fiona Gilroy, Content Sales and Acquisitions Director, Flame Distribution said, “Super volcanoes are a force to be reckoned with and Yellowstone in particular has been an endless source of fascination for centuries. We were delighted to work with Wildflame on this project from inception and to assist with brokering the presale to Discovery. We are looking forward to presenting this doc to our buyers and are confident it will have a seismic impact on audiences worldwide.”
Yellowstone: Super Volcanoes was commissioned by Ben Dwertman for Discovery+ and Adrian Padmore for Channel 5. Lindsey Foster Blumberg is Supervising Producer for Science. The Exec Producers for Wildflame Productions are Llinos Griffin-Williams and Jobim Sampson. The series is distributed internationally by Flame Distribution. It receives its debut on discovery+ on 3 June.
Jon Creamer
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