Seven Envelopes
Thursday 17 July, 2014
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Seven Envelopes - Riverdog Productions
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Honey I Bought The House - Objective Productions/Crook Productions
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Who Repairs Wins - CPL Productions
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Memory Slam(w/t)- Showem/North One Television
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Supersize My Job - Bedlam Productions
UKTV today announced five brand new factual entertainment shows for its flagship pay entertainment channel Watch.
Each show is a broadcast pilot and was commissioned off the back of a call out to independent production companies to pitch innovative factual entertainment formats for bold new ideas for watch's 'Format Labs' strand. The ambition is that one or more of the pilots will be developed into a full series.
Richard Watsham, UKTV's Director of Commissioning, said,
Innovative formats are hugely underserved at the moment and we're making the most of our agility to grab this opportunity and make Watch a leader in this important area. I'm excited about the potential not only to take some of these ideas to series but also to make the lab a recurring event for us.
UKTV's Commissioning Editor, Hilary Rosen, will oversee three formats: Seven Envelopes from Riverdog Productions, Honey I Bought The House co-produced by Objective Productions and Crook Productions, and Who Repairs Wins from CPL Productions. Fellow Commissioning Editor, Iain Coyle, will be responsible for Memory Slam co-produced by North One Television and Showem and Catherine Catton, UKTV's Senior Commissioning Editor, will oversee Supersize My Job from Bedlam Productions.
The formats will air on Watch later this year. Steve North, General Manager for the channel, said
Watch is increasingly looking for bold original commissions and for formats that give a factual entertainment skin to experiences that resonate with our audience. The commissions bring an interesting mix of game show, competition and lightly-formatted documentary to watch's portfolio of original content.
The Formats
Game show and real worlds collide in Seven Envelopes (2x30). Seven unprepared contestants must agree to be filmed all day before getting the chance to open an envelope which contains money ranging from 1p to a £10,000 jackpot, but which envelope is it? Over the course of a day, the contestants are offered experiences in return for trading their envelopes. Two lucky players get to play the end game where the jackpot rises to £20,000.
Honey I Bought The House
Honey I Bought The House (1x60') is a nail-biting approach to the reality of buying a first home which sees a couple given a £15,000 deposit to get them on the property ladder. The only catch is they are separated immediately and one has three weeks to secure a property - or they lose the money. The hunt is on for the perfect home. Will their partner be thrilled with their new property and sign the mortgage papers, or risk losing that precious deposit?
Who Repairs Wins (1x60') pits a group of the UK's most colourful tradesmen against each other as they compete for unconventional, yet potentially big money-making jobs. It's a real-life game of risk, strategy and nerve as they must decide which jobs are worth bidding for, and which will make them cash. It becomes a high octane race to find out who has not only won in the money stakes, but also secured the best combined star ratings for the jobs they undertake. Who'll go all-out to secure the job and the full five stars?
Memory Slam (w/t) (1x60') combines documentary with the tension of a real-world competition, following gifted youngsters at the final of the UK Schools Memory Championships. As well as all the excitement of the live event, the programme goes behind the scenes to discover what it takes to become a young national champion.
Can a pint-puller from a village pub cut it as a mixologist in a top London bar? And how will a lifeguard used to the comfort of the local pool cope with saving lives on grand scale at one of the country's busiest beaches? Supersize My Job (1x60') raises the stakes in the workplace, challenging people to take on new skills and experiences.
The new formats will join watch's growing slate of distinctive series including Dynamo: Magician Impossible, David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities and upcoming Singing in the Rainforest.
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For more information contact:
Lara Feinstein, Corporate Communications Coordinator
About Watch
Sky 109 (HD)/155 and Virgin 125 (HD)/124
Watch is an entertainment channel that promises to surprise with out of the ordinary programming. Premiering hit fantasy and science-fiction dramas such as Grimm, Believe and Beauty and the Beast, it also showcases a selection of distinctive series like Doctor Who, David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities, Masterchef Australia and The Happenings. Watch is the exclusive home of Dynamo: Magician Impossible, an award winning original commission from UKTV.
www.justwatch.co.uk@Watch_Channel
About UKTV
UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers per month.
UKTV's ten imaginative channel brands - Watch, Dave, Gold, Alibi, Eden, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home and Good Food - include the most watched non-PSB channel, the most watched channel in the Factual genre and the most watched channels in the Lifestyle genre (Pay and Free). The company's most recent financial results showed a record-breaking year-end revenue of £262m, and operating profit at £71m.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC and Channel 4 content, and embracing technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT TV, TalkTalk, YouView, plus direct On Demand digital services. The network distributes its highly valued programmes to 200 territories around the world and supplies Sky with more hours of HD content than anyone else.
Now celebrating its 21st 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 broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.