Director Kevin Macdonald is behind feature doc It Takes a Flood, which will be a centerpiece for ITV’s Climate Action Week, timed to run from November 1st, at the same time as the COP26 talks in Glasgow.
The channel has commissioned two further films, from Wingspan Productions as part of a range of themed programming, from topical new commissions to coverage in ITV’s live daytime shows, news, current affairs and quizzes.
It Takes a Flood will look at the increasingly ferocious floods hitting the UK in recent years. Produced by Docsville, the film goes into the heart of the increasingly ferocious floods hitting the UK in recent years. It takes in London as it is battered by historic levels of rain this summer and is with home-owners as floodwater comes pouring up through toilets, includes phone footage capturing floodwater. The film features Ravi Singh, who runs an international disaster relief charity.
The feature doc has been commissioned by ITV Controller of Factual Jo Clinton-Davis and Head of Factual Entertainment Sue Murphy.
The channel has also commissioned Wingspan Productions for two films. The first, Joanna Lumley and The Human Swan, follows Lumley as she sets out to track adventurer Sacha Dench, AKA the ‘Human Swan’, as she flies – green-powered – around Britain’s coast in search of climate change solutions. Her search takes place, despite the death of Dench’s support pilot Dan Burton, who tragically lost his life after a mid-air paramotor collision with Dench, who was seriously injured.
The second film from Wingspan is In Orkney – Britain’s Green Islands. Julia Bradbury and ITV weather presenter Alex Beresford travel to Orkney to see how the islands are making progress towards a greener future, harnessing the extreme weather on land and on sea. It is filmed, produced and directed by Kim Lomax. The executive producer is Archie Baron. ITV Commissioning Editor is Priya Singh.
Other programming includes the concluding part of Save Money: My Beautiful Green Home airs during Climate Action Week, in which Ranvir Singh and property expert and designer Kunle Barker show how we can achieve the green dream of an eco-friendly home – without breaking the bank. And ahead of Climate Action Week, Love Your Garden heads to Salford to surprise a community hero with an eco-inspired kitchen garden.
For the first time in British television history, the country’s soaps and continuing dramas including Coronation Street and Emmerdale are joining forces, to highlight the issue of climate change and environmental issues, an idea originally conceived by Jane Hudson, Emmerdale’s Executive Producer. The episodes will air across the first week of November.
ITV will also be running a Climate Action-focused behaviour change marketing campaign in its promotional airtime, encouraging viewers to make simple, easy swaps in their day to day lives that can add up to a powerful impact for the planet. The campaign will dramatise how making a small change can do more for the planet that you might expect from a small swap.
ITV also furthers its environmental goals through commercial partnerships under ITV’s sustainable partnership brand ITV Home Planet, including with eBay, who are the official sponsor of Climate Action Week, as well as new bespoke Home Planet campaigns from Polestar and Severn Trent Water.
ITV News has extensive plans for COP26 which will be broadcast across regional and network bulletins as well as ITV’s digital output, with ITV’s flagship bulletins Early Evening and News at Ten, as well as Peston, in Glasgow during the conference. Building on ITV News’s long running ‘Earth on the Edge’ series examining the very real impact of climate change internationally and in the UK, and its ‘Last Chance To Save The Planet’ series spotlighting on solutions to the climate crisis, ITV News will bring viewers comprehensive coverage across platforms in the run-up, during and after the COP26 conference.
ITV’s flagship current affairs programme Tonight will see meteorologist and GMB weather presenter Laura Tobin reporting on cost effective ways that consumers can help reduce their carbon footprint, and The Martin Lewis Money Show will also have a live COP26 special during ITV’s Climate Action Week.
James Martin’s Saturday Morning will feature sustainable recipes as well as guests Tom Hunt the ‘eco-chef’ and chef Rovinder Bhogal who runs London’s first carbon neutral restaurant. Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh will see the nation’s favourite gardener getting involved, exploring sustainable gardening and more on his weekend morning ITV show.
ITV’s live daytime shows Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women will all be covering Climate Action themes during the week, while The Chase will include ‘green-themed’ questions. The Pride of Britain Awards, broadcast during this week, will also include an inaugural Environmental Champion award.
ITV has an internal plan to, as a business, make significant progress on climate action. ITV has science-based targets to ensure the business meets its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2030. These include a commitment by 2030 to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46.2% and Scope 3 by 28%, setting a target to be zero waste by 2030, aiming for a 100% sustainable supply chain, and 100% of staff being trained in Climate Action.
In addition ITV requires all its produced and commissioned productions to be certified by albert – BAFTA’s environmental organisation focused on reducing the waste and carbon footprint of the TV and film production industry. ITV also helped create the DIMPACT measurement system to quantify and help reduce the impact of digital content distribution.
ITV Daytime will broadcast key climate action content across the COP26 summit.
Following the success of Good Morning Britain‘s exclusive from the mouth of Borebreen, a glacier in Svalbard, where the impact of climate change was witnessed and heard (cracking ice) live on air, GMB will be reporting live and speaking to world leaders, whose nations are already living the effects of climate change.
From 6am each weekday morning, GMB will be investigating what we can do closer to home, in our own homes, including the impact of heat pumps and looking into the recycling journey of plastic beyond the UK.
On Lorraine, climate activist Dr Amir Kahn will be visiting Lorraine’s home to help her with climate friendly tips.
The show has ongoing plans to film from its new outside home, including segments on how to look after nature and wildlife, sustainable fashion and beauty, and how to use homegrown ingredients to encourage viewers to play a part in helping the planet.
Ahead of Climate Action Week, on Monday 25th October, Josie Gibson and Alison Hammond will be taking a three-day eco road trip from London to Glasgow in an electric Kia car. Along the way, they will stop off and show viewers some eco-friendly tips and tricks.
And on Loose Women, the panelists will face green challenges to find out if being more environmentally friendly could change their lives. From going vegan to using eco-friendly cleaning products, menstrual cups and sharing clothes, the award-winning daytime show will be looking at the small but effective ways everyone can make changes through a series of challenges.
The above is produced by ITV Studios Daytime.
Jon Creamer
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