ITV is rebranding its Fresh Cuts strand Outlier and has issued a new brief, to commission six sports documentaries from diverse-led production companies.
The sports documentaries will premiere during this year’s ITV’s Year of Sport which includes the biggest World Cup in history, and the inaugural Nations Championships, exclusively on ITV.
Over four years Fresh Cuts produced 22 documentaries and a comedy special. The new slate will feature six standalone 46-minute documentaries, each receiving a budget of £50,000.
Funded by ITV’s Diversity Commissioning Spend, Outlier specifically invites pitches from production companies owned by People of Colour and/or Deaf, Disabled, and Neurodivergent (DDN) creatives. The initiative aims to address the continued lack of diverse talent in senior behind-the-camera roles, as highlighted by the Creative Diversity Network’s Diamond monitoring.
For 2026, ITV is seeking: “authored storytelling with high stakes, emotional depth, and a premium streaming sensibility. The documentaries are expected to be cinematic character-driven, and culturally relevant, uncovering overlooked stories or revisiting defining moments within the world of sport.
“While the subject matter must be sports-related and unscripted, it does not necessarily have to focus on diversity, provided it is produced by a diverse-led company.”
Richard Botchway, Commissioning Editor for the series said: “Outlier represents a fresh step forward in our commitment to diverse storytelling. By focusing on sports in 2026, we are giving some of the UK’s most talented diverse-led production companies the stage to tell gripping, high-stakes stories that can surprise and thrill our audiences.”
Nahrein Kemp, DEI & Talent Lead at ITV, added: “After four successful years of Fresh Cuts, rebranding as Outlier allows us to sharpen our focus. We are looking for those ‘hidden in plain sight’ stories—the ones that make you wonder how you’ve never heard them before. This is about championing fresh perspectives in an area of programming that brings people together like nothing else.”
Applications for the initiative are now open via the official Outlier submission form with the closing date of April 10th.
Jon Creamer
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