Thursday 13th October 2016
UKTV today announced that Dave's hit original scripted show, Crackanory, will return for a fourth series (8x30') following the success of the Audible partnership for series three. The new series, in partnership with Audible, will see just one narrator per episode reading an extended story including Sheridan Smith, Dara O Briain, Doc Brown, Anna Friel, Mackenzie Crook, Miriam Margolyes, Bob Mortimer and Mel Giedroyc. Each story will be brought to life with live action featuring some of Britain's best comedy actors.
Crackanory will be produced by Tiger Aspect Productions, with Arnold Widdowson as series producer and Andy Brereton returning as executive producer on the series, and commissioned for Dave by UKTV commissioning executive, Tanya Qureshi. The deal was brokered by Kate Norum, senior commercial partnerships manager for UKTV and Audible's senior manager, creative marketing, Matthew Price and will be back on screens next year.
Audible, the world's leading source of spoken word audio entertainment, will receive bespoke sponsorship idents on both linear and VOD broadcasts of the new series. Audible members will be able to listen to some of their favourite stories from all four series via Audible's site. Audible will also benefit from five exclusively written stories from the Crackanory writing team and bespoke content featuring the narrators.
Kate Norum says,
We are genuinely delighted to be partnering with the team at Audible again for series four of Crackanory. This series' collaboration has been designed to deliver even more exclusive content to their subscribers, as well as providing the brilliant on-screen association with fantastic stories and story-telling which Crackanory offers them.
Tracey Markham, UK Manager at Audible, adds,
Everyone loves to listen to a good story - whatever age they are. Over the past 10 years we've worked hard to reintroduce the pleasure of storytelling to people across the UK through our catalogue of audiobooks and original productions. We're huge admirers of what Crackanory has been doing and see this partnership as a meeting of minds and objectives.
UKTV's Tanya Qureshi says,
We are thrilled to be bringing back the award-winning Crackanory for a fourth time on Dave. It has become one of our landmark brands and the ambitions of the show continue to grow with each new series. We're hugely excited to see the storytelling format evolve into a single narrative per episode, and to reveal the talented narrators who will be taking a seat in the iconic Crackanory chair.
Arnold Widdowson, series producer, Tiger Aspect adds,
Crackanory is possibly the most addictive show to work on - each series provides a blank slate from which we can transport the viewer into any world we want. From a barbershop competition in 1940s New York to bloodthirsty ancient Rome, every episode we stretch ourselves to create increasingly twisted and exciting original stories. The longer format for this series allows us time to delve into each world even more deeply, creating a truly captivating half hour of storytelling for the audience. What other show gives you cryogenically frozen men, lies that come to life, deranged dictators, and Edwardian magicians? I'm thrilled and incredibly lucky to be working with such imaginative writers and brilliant storytellers.
The award-winning storytelling show has seen success in recent years on Dave with the likes of Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd, Taskmaster giant Greg Davies, Star Wars legend Carrie Fisher and northern funny woman Sarah Millican each taking their turn to sit in the famous chair.
The critically-acclaimed show, will return to Dave early 2017 with eight new and original stories and famous narrators. Crackanory has won a coveted Broadcasting Press Guild Award and been nominated at the Monte Carlo Television Festival, Broadcast and Broadcast Digital Awards.
Series two also featured the much-missed comedy legend Rik Mayall in his final television appearance, reciting "The Weatherman". Catch up on all three series on UKTV Play.
Dave has enjoyed huge successes with ad-funded commissions including the Red Bull franchises and The Indestructibles, with Casio G-Shock, which was nominated for Best Partnership at the Broadcast Digital Awards 2016.
END
What the press say...
"This anti-Jackanory format keeps getting better, attracting ever more famous readers and giving a platform to sketch writers and comedians who deal in short form gags." The Sunday Times Culture
"...delectably creepy tales." Radio Times
"Crackanory is a simple idea executed with skill and off-the-wall-imagination..... The stories which are completely mesmerising, are illustrated with actors and animations." The Times
"Crackanory added deliciously dark twists into its tales for grownups." Metro
Notes to Editors:
For more information please contact:
Gemma Pinkney, Publicity Manager
Iain Mccallum, Head of Press and PR, Tiger Aspect IainMccallum@tigeraspect.co.uk
About Dave
Sky 111/246, Virgin 128/194, Freeview 12, BT & TalkTalk 12 On demand on Sky, Virgin and UKTV Play
Dave's had a haircut and shave in recent years as it grows from awkward teenager to fully-fledged commissioner of new and original shows. And it's not just comedy these days but entertainment and even some knock-out live sport. Hit UKTV Original commissions include Taskmaster, Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled and Crackanory, all laden with the biggest names in British comedy. Dave enjoyed critical success with two series of Hoff the Record, a mockumentary ensemble comedy led by the living legend David Hasselhoff.
As well as home-grown delights Dave also goes stateside, cherry-picking cult US Shows including the sharp-witted and sharp-suited Suits and much-loved Parks and Recreation along with Emmy-nominated The Last Man on Earth. This all contributed to Dave's award win at the 2016 Broadcast Digital Awards for Best Entertainment Channel.
Dave is the UK's most watched non-PSB channel broadcasting to over 27 million people per month, and viewers continue to enjoy the ludicrously addictive American Pickers and UK remake of Storage Hunters. The channel continues to grow its original commissioning slate with political show Unspun With Matt Forde, Red Dwarf XI, Dara O Briain's Go8Bit, fantasy comedy Zapped! and Celebrity Storage Hunters airing later this year.
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About UKTV
UKTV is the biggest multichannel broadcaster in the UK.
The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for 9.31% of the British commercial TV market. The company's most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £319m and EBITDA of £82m. It invested £148m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC, alongside programmes originally shown on ITV and Channel 4. The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat, Amazon Fire and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating its 23rd year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.