The Customiser Is Always Right (w/t) starts January 2018
Wednesday 13 September 2017
UKTV's entertainment channel Dave has signed celebrity car wrapper Yianni Charalambous for a brand new UKTV Original show, The Customiser Is Always Right (w/t) (20x30').
Yianni is who the rich and famous trust with their precious rides, with a client list that includes some of the biggest names in the world of sport and entertainment, including Harry Styles, Sergio Aguero and Gordon Ramsay.
Yianni is also a social media star. His YouTube channel, Yiannimize, boasts nearly a million subscribers and videos featuring supercar wraps, and transformations of celebrity vehicles attract millions of views. And on Instagram his company site has one million followers while his personal one has more than 300,000.
However, as this unique new series shows, life at the top isn't always straightforward. As well as coping with the pressures of looking after his A-list clientele, Yianni must manage a busy garage full of big personalities and ensure that the luxurious cars, supercars and SUVs that roll into his place are wrapped and converted to perfection and leave looking impeccable. Can Yianni avoid the bumps in the road of success?
Yianni Charalambous said:
My social media followers have been saying to me for years, 'Yianni - why haven't you got your own TV show?'. So it's very exciting to be opening a window on my life with this series. Dave is the perfect home for it and we have some exceptional cars, personalities and stories lined up.
The Customiser Is Always Right (w/t) is ordered by Richard Watsham, director of commissioning and Steve North, general manager for Dave. Commissioned by Hilary Rosen, the series is produced by Barcroft Productions and Peter Wyles is the executive producer.
Hilary Rosen, UKTV deputy director of commissioning, said:
Yianni is a fantastic presence whose personality and enthusiasm shines through on screen. His creations are stunning, real works of art, and the show is a wonderful introduction to the colourful world of car customisation.
Steve North said:
Yianni is a force of nature and already enjoys a significant following on social media. We're huge fans of Yianni here at the channel and we're very proud to bring him to TV for the very first time. We hope the rest of his keen followers enjoy this more thorough look at his life behind the scenes.
Peter Wyles said:
Yianni has a big personality and is completely authentic. He runs an incredibly successful car customising business and has become a huge social media star. He is also one of the best networkers in the country! I can't wait for Dave viewers to get a glimpse into his unique and amazing world.
In 2016, UKTV committed over £150m to new programming which has resulted in a 40% increase in entertainment commissions and the biggest commissioned slate in UKTV's 25 year history with successful launches, award-winning returning series and around 50 shows currently in production.
The Customiser Is Always Right (w/t) is the latest early peak time commission from Dave, which has had recent successes with UKTV Originals The Joy of Techs, Used Car Wars and Eat Your Heart Out with Nick Helm.
The channel continues to increase UKTV Original shows across the schedule with new series of Taskmaster, Zapped, Red Dwarf and Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish, plus brand new shows Porters and Don't Say It, Bring It coming later this year.
Dave is also showing more live sport, committing to bring five live boxing matches to free television over the next year, in partnership with David Haye and Richard Schaefer's Hayemaker Ringstar.
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Notes to Editors
For more information and interviews with Yianni, please contact:
For further information on Barcroft Productions please contact:
Justin Crosby at Boom! PR - justin@boomdialogue.com - 07966 228361
For pictures:
About UKTV
UKTV is a commercial broadcaster reaching over 40m viewers every month.
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 nearly 10% of the British commercial TV market.
The network delivers 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 over 20 years 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 first British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.
corporate.uktv.co.uk / press.uktv.co.uk / @uktvpress
About Barcroft
Sam Barcroft formed Barcroft Media in 2003 to provide editorial content to the international print media. Over the past decade the business has operated at the leading edge of the transition from analogue to digital media, now employing over fifty staff in bureaux in London, New York and New Delhi.
The business aims to become the leading global provider of factual content by creating, licensing, distributing and publishing news depicting 'the amazing side of life' across its constituent core businesses;
Barcroft Media - an established editorial content agency that specialises in content creation and distribution. The company licenses and distributes text, photography, TV documentaries and short form video clips to producers, publishers, broadcasters and digital platforms in over 50 countries.
Barcroft Productions creates original linear and digital TV programming for brands and a broad range of UK and international networks including 'Body Bizarre' (TLC), 'Inside The KKK' (Channel 4), 'The Day the Dinosaurs Died' (BBC 2) and 'Bear Grylls: Man vs. Everest' (Discovery).
Barcroft TV - one of YouTube's most watched factual channels with over 3 million subscribers, 2.8 billion views to date and is a key component of the group's multi-platform channel offering, serving as an incubation channel for Barcroft Productions.
Barcroft Plus, the fastest growing business within the Barcroft group specialises in integrating brand messaging and authentic editorial stories creating powerful new marketing opportunities for brands.
Channel 4 recently invested in Barcroft Media via its Growth Fund.