Sky Documentaries, The Guardian, and Wonderhood Studios are to tell the story of sexual exploitation in the modelling industry across decades, in a new three-part documentary series
Building on a long-running and ongoing investigation by journalist Lucy Osborne and The Guardian, the powerful testimony and archive documentary series will reveal how the modelling industry has facilitated and validated endemic sexual abuse for decades. The Sky Original series will launch on Sky Documentaries in the UK and Ireland, and on Sky in Germany and Italy, and the series title and further broadcast partners globally are yet to be announced.
The new three-part series will shine a spotlight on the life-changing events experienced by models over decades, revealing not only the behaviours of prominent individuals but also how the allure and practices of the industry were able to facilitate abuse that often saw predators operating in plain sight. The project will interweave powerful personal testimony and archive footage, involving filming in locations in America and Europe.
The series will be produced by an all-female team including award-winning investigative journalist Lucy Osborne, who has been investigating this subject for many years, and is led by a combined unit including executive producers Jacqueline Edenbrow, Samantha Anstiss and Rebecca Templar. Wonderhood Studios and the Guardian had been developing separate projects covering the same subject for many months before coming together last year to collaborate.
The Sky Original documentary has been commissioned for Sky Documentaries by Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content, Poppy Dixon, Director, Documentaries and Factual. The series is produced in association with Sky Studios, and will air on Sky in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy.
Poppy Dixon, Director, Documentaries & Factual, Sky says: “This series promises to shine a light on practices which have historically gone unchallenged in the fashion industry. Sky Documentaries showcases challenging and thought-provoking documentaries, and I’m honoured to partner with Wonderhood and The Guardian for this important series.”
Jacqueline Edenbrow, executive producer, Guardian News & Media says: “Following a committed and long-running special investigation into wrongdoing in the modelling industry we are excited to be working together with Wonderhood Studios to build on Lucy Osborne and the Guardian’s reporting to create a powerful documentary series.”
Samantha Anstiss, Chief Creative Officer of Wonderhood Studios says: “We are very pleased to be able to work alongside The Guardian on this series. We’re passionate about collaborating to get the stories of women from across the modelling industry told. This has always been a world of beguiling glamour and opportunity, but as the testimonies of so many survivors reveal, it became a much darker place. We feel privileged to be able to help to get the voices of women heard and hope the series will go some way to effecting change.”
Lucy Osborne, producer and investigative journalist says: “I am delighted to be working with such a fantastic team to help tell these women’s stories and finally give the fashion industry its MeToo reckoning. We look forward to creating a series that will also sensitively explore the bigger picture – how abuse is facilitated, how victims are silenced and the lasting impact on women.”
Jon Creamer
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