Hungry Jay Media – the newly-launched indie from The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades and Hungry Bear Media – has been commissioned to produce Jay Blades: The Streets Where I Lived, a three-part series for Channel 5.

The series will see the TV presenter journey through his upbringing in East London, exploring the homes he grew up in and the history of the people who lived there before him.

Launched at the end of last year, Hungry Jay Media is a joint venture between Blades, the presenter of award-winning BBC series The Repair Shop and Hungry Bear Media, the production company led by Dan Baldwin and Juliet Denison Gay. Hungry Jay Media will develop and produce a range of television formats that will see Blades both in front of and behind the camera, with a strong focus on creating opportunities for new production talent.

Jay Blades: The Streets Where I Lived takes Blades back to Hackney in London, an area that left its mark on him. Now, with the perspective of mid-life, he’s going off in search of his ancestors; not his blood family, but the people who inhabited his streets before him, from the heroes to the villains.

Blades will be accompanied by some of his old school friends as he discovers the secrets of the area that shaped him as he recalls the times when he was a happy child, then a troubled teenager and a lost young man.

Jay Blades said: “I’m really excited to be filming this series. ‘The Streets Where I Lived’ is going to bring memories flooding back. I can’t wait to go back to my old neighbourhood and discover the history on its doorstep. The places I visit are the buildings, streets and communities that made me the man I am today”.

Daniel Pearl, Channel 5 Commissioning Editor, Factual says: “I am thrilled to be teaming up with Hungry Jay Media on this exciting new commission. Audiences are used to seeing Jay shine a light on other people’s memories, but this series will turn the tables and give viewers an insight into his life, unearthing new discoveries not only about himself, but also the community he grew up in”

Executive Producer Dan Baldwin said: “Teaming up with Jay, Ben Frow and everyone at Channel 5 on this project is extremely exciting. Jay has a deep love for communities so this series will take him back to the streets he grew up in and shaped the man he is today”.

 Jay Blades: The Streets Where I Lived is a Hungry Jay Media production for Channel 5, directed by Rachel Jardine and produced by Lauren Bennie. Executive producers are Dan Baldwin and Clare Paterson and the series was commissioned by Channel 5 Commissioning Editor, Factual Daniel Pearl.

 

Jon Creamer

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