Monday, 22 August 2016
UKTV's premium entertainment channel W continues to expand its slate of original programming with The Dressing Room. A UKTV Original, this fly-on-the-wall documentary is co-produced by STV Productions and GroupM Entertainment and will debut in 2017.
Every weekend ordinary people across the nation come together to take part in team sport, either in groups of old friends, with work colleagues, or simply to blow off steam and leave their everyday worries behind. Using fixed-rig cameras, The Dressing Room (6x60') invites the viewer into the hidden world of dressing rooms across the entire country, showing all of the off-field drama and focusing on dynamic characters with fascinating lives. The Dressing Room grants unprecedented access to what happens on the other side of the touchline, with a cast of women's teams, mixed teams and men's teams, from football to roller derby to water polo.
Viewers will get access to an intimate and emotionally charged world, witnessing how team mates of all ages interact in the heat of the moment - their shared histories and in-jokes, their reliance on each other, their personal grudges, even their latest relationship dramas. But all these give way to the pre-match nerves and adrenalin, the instant half-time reactions, arguments and motivational speeches, as well as the post-match euphoria of victory and the bitter taste of defeat.
Ordered by Steve North, general manager of W and UKTV's director of commissioning Richard Watsham, The Dressing Room is commissioned by senior commissioning editor Iain Coyle. The Dressing Room is co-produced by STV Productions and GroupM Entertainment.
Senior commissioning editor for UKTV Iain Coyle said,
The Dressing Room is one of those ideas that, when you hear it, you can't quite believe it's not been done before. It's so simple but has a unique mixture of the genuinely moving, funny, motivational and, ultimately, life-affirming. Be prepared for the hair on the back of your neck to stand up.
Steve North, W's general manager, added,
The Dressing Room promises a unique insight into the way we relate as people during our most highly charged moments. By taking a pared down approach with fly-on-the-wall documentary, our viewers will see the human connections that people make on and off the pitch, making this a warm-hearted and life-affirming series.
Gary Chippington, head of entertainment at STV Productions, said,
We're hugely excited to be exploring the passion, warmth and humour that goes on in dressing rooms across the country every weekend. We look forward to working with GroupM Entertainment on this series for UKTV to bring viewers some truly captivating stories of real people, friendship and emotion from the other side of the dressing room doors
Tony Moulsdale, director of programming, GroupM Entertainment said,
The Dressing Room is a very exciting project for us. It is our first with UKTV. It grew out of the immensely productive development relationship we have with STV Productions. It's attracting a lot of attention both domestically and internationally and it's been really exciting working with UKTV to bring this to the screen.
The format and finished programme will be sold internationally by Passion Distribution.
The Dressing Room continues W's investment in original programming, following its launch earlier this year. W launched with authored documentary series ON with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sara Cox and Grace Dent, Nev's Indian Call Centre, Get Me To The Church and Battlechefs with Marco Pierre White, while W also has the forthcoming UKTV Originals John Bishop: In Conversation With... and I've Got Something To Tell You, hosted by Amanda Holden. In March W exclusively broadcast Dynamo's live show at the O2 Arena in a world first, peaking at nearly 1 million viewers.
Ends
For more information please contact
Kerry Parker, Head of Network Communications
About W
Sky 109/245, Virgin 124/191, BT & TalkTalk 407 On demand on Sky and Virgin
W is UKTV's premium entertainment channel, offering audiences a dazzling mix of original factual entertainment formats - ON, Get Me To The Church, Honey I Bought the House - alongside the gold standard of shows from the US including Code Black, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, CSI:NY, Grimm and The Strain plus jewels from the very best of the BBC and Channel 4.
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.
corporate.uktv.co.uk / press.uktv.co.uk / @uktv_press
About STV Productions
STV Productions is one of the UK's leading content businesses with ambitious plans for growth both domestically and internationally.
The company has a record of success across a range of genres including drama, entertainment and factual for a wide range of broadcasters. Ratings winner Antiques Road Trip has run for twelve series on the BBC, with a further five series of sister programme Celebrity Antiques Road Trip also produced. In entertainment, the company produces Catchphrase for ITV, Safeword for ITV2, The Link for BBC Daytime and The Lie for STV, TV3 in Ireland and S4C in Wales.
Specialist factual successes have included Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered for BBC1 and Swallowed By The Sea - Ancient Egypt's Greatest Lost City for BBC2. Documentaries have been another strong growth area. Fire in the Night, a feature documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster, won a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Single Documentary and the Audience Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Since then we have produced The Lockerbie Bombing for the Smithsonian Channel in the US and ITV, The 7/7 Bombing: Survivors' Stories for ITV, Rollermania for BBC Scotland and BBC4, Prison: First and Last 24 hours, an 8 hour series for Sky1, Dunblane: Our Story for BBC2, Life After: Chernobyl for Animal Planet and The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner, a documentary for BBC Scotland, BBC Four and Smithsonian Channel.
STV Productions has a track record of producing quality returnable drama series including Taggart and Rebus and intends to build on this solid reputation. In the last five years it has produced Fast Freddie and The Poison Tree, both for ITV. It currently has script commissions from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
STV Productions has a partnership with Red Arrow International which co-invests in and co-develops projects as well as distributing STV Productions' completed programmes and formats, outside the UK.
In August 2015, STV Productions entered a strategic development partnership with GroupM Entertainment Ltd to create new entertainment, factual and drama projects for the UK and international markets.