2 June 2021

• Five original short-form shows commissioned for Dave's social media channels including a YouTube spin-off of BAFTA & RTS-nominated Big Zuu's Big Eats

• Recruitment underway for five new roles to grow UKTV's social media business

UKTV has commissioned five short-form comedy shows for its Dave branded social channels in a move to serve online audiences with unique, bespoke and sharable comedy content, and to amplify up and coming talent.

Those include two shorts for Dave's YouTube; Big Zuu's Wrap Clash (6x8') - a brand-new food competition and a spin-off of Dave's BAFTA & RTS-nominated TV series Big Zuu's Big Eats, and Who Cares? (6x8') - hosted and produced by Chicken Shop Date creator Amelia Dimoldenberg.

Exclusively for Dave's Facebook, UKTV and BBC Studios have commissioned The Comedy Guide to Life (8x7') - featuring stand-up comics offering witty and punchy observations on modern life, BackChat (8x7') - a comedy talk radio show for Facebook created by Ciaran Bartlett and Luke Mason, and Bad Advice with Olga Koch (8 x7') - an eight-part comedy chat show with some of the brightest comedy minds.

A team of social media experts are also being recruited to manage Dave's Facebook and YouTube channels to increase UKTV's engagement with viewers and fans. A video manager, video editor, junior social analyst, deliverables co-ordinator and a community manager will join the business this year. They'll work closely with the UKTV commissioning team and Dave channel director when new short-form ideas are pitched for the channel's social platforms.

Erina Jones, UKTV's head of social and online said:

Creating unique short-form series for Dave's social platforms will increase our offering of entertaining, funny and relatable content in the online world. It's an incredible opportunity to test out new formats, work with a new generation of talent and extend the enjoyment of our popular Dave Originals for existing fans, and hopefully entice a wave of new fans too. Dave's mission is to be as funny on social media as it is on air and we want people to enjoy spending time with us wherever they are. Our followers can now look forward to these new and exclusive shows on a weekly basis over the coming months.

Since its relaunch in December 2020, the Dave YouTube channel has seen a 312% increase in views and it now counts 24k subscribers. The channel's Facebook page has garnered over 157k new followers and grown by 33% in the last 12 months.

Andrea Amey, who joined UKTV in December to lead the company's digital strategy said:

UKTV's channels are incredibly strong but it's important we have something on offer for viewers who might not watch our shows in the traditional way, on linear TV. Younger audiences are spending increasing amounts of time on social media, so by creating bespoke and bite-sized shows online, I hope they'll find something they enjoy featuring Dave's well-known witty tone. When editorially appropriate, we'll also premiere the best of Dave's short-form content on our on-demand service, UKTV Play.

Dave's YouTube shorts have been commissioned by Mark Iddon, commissioning editor at UKTV, with development from Natalie Rose. Who Cares? is produced by Dimoldenberg's new indie, Dimz Inc. and Big Zuu's Wrap Clash comes from Boom.

The Comedy Guide to Life, Bad Advice with Olga Koch and BackChat are commissioned by Mark Iddon for UKTV and Jasmine Dawson, SVP for digital consumer engagement, on behalf of BBC Studios. All three are produced by BBC Studios. Sarah Asante, UKTV's scripted commissioning editor, is executive producer for BackChat.

Big Zuu's Wrap Clash will be available at 5pm today here and further episodes will drop every Wednesday and Monday ahead of the TX of Big Zuu's Big Eats on Dave. The series will see grime artist turned TV chef Big Zuu challenge some of the UK's hottest social media personalities to create a better wrap than him and features guests including, Henrie, Kojey Radical, Alhan Gencay, Ray BLK, Amelia Dimoldenberg and Big Zuu's partners in crime themselves, Tubsey and Hyder. The series is directed by Adrian Choa and series produced by Alex Gilman, with Rohan Minhas as producer and Sam Grace as executive producer for Boom.

Mark said:

Everyone knows that Big Zuu delivers the tightest raps, but can anyone beat him in the food truck and produce a better wrap? Big Zuu has been a huge hit with Dave viewers so it's great that Big Zuu's Wrap Clash is launching on YouTube to coincide with series two of Big Zuu's Big Eats. I'm also excited for Dave fans to see all the other great shows we've commissioned for YouTube and Facebook coming soon.

Who Cares? is premiering on Dave's YouTube this month. Each episode will see Amelia pose a selection of questions to the UK public on burning issues - be it political, social, celebrity or fast-fashion - using her unique interview style. The series is directed and produced by Amelia Dimoldenberg.

Clips from UKTV Originals Hypothetical, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable and Meet The Richardsons have proved popular with Dave's current YouTube audience and have accumulated over three million views in total so far. The most-watched video on the platform now, with nearly two million views, is Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster trying not to mention the Covid pandemic in a video titled "What Pandemic?"

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For more information, please contact:

Ali Laurie, Senior Publicist, UKTV

About UKTV

UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 25 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to audiences through UKTV Play, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat and Amazon Fire. The broadcaster is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers.

UKTV is part of BBC Studios, the UK's most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world's leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.

corporate.uktv.co.uk | press.uktv.co.uk | @uktvpress

About BBC Studios

BBC Studios, a global content company with British creativity at its heart, is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC Group. Able to take an idea seamlessly from thought to screen, it spans content financing, development, production, sales, branded services, and ancillaries from both its own productions and programmes and formats made by high-quality UK independents. Award-winning British programmes made by the business are internationally recognised across a broad range of genres and specialisms, including factual, drama, entertainment, and comedy. BBC Studios has offices in 22 markets globally, including six production bases in the UK and production bases and partnerships in a further nine countries around the world. The company, which makes around 2,500 hours of content a year, is a champion for British creativity around the world and a committed partner for the UK's independent sector. Created in April 2018 by the merger of two existing commercial subsidiaries, BBC Worldwide and BBC Studios, the company has revenue of around £1.4bn. In the year to March 2019, it returned £243m to the BBC Group, complementing the BBC's licence fee and enhancing programmes for UK audiences.

bbcstudios.com | twitter.com/bbcstudios

About Boom

Boom is one of Wales's largest, indigenous production groups, producing over 400 hours of factual, popular factual, entertainment, drama and children's content annually. Based in Cardiff Bay, we are dedicated to producing compelling content for both Welsh broadcasters, S4C, BBC Wales and ITV Wales as well as the UK's network broadcasters and international markets.

About Dimz Inc.

Dimz Inc. is a newly launched London based production company, founded by and run by content creator Amelia Dimoldenberg. The production company was set up to expand upon the success of Dimoldenberg's own phenomenally popular YouTube channel, which includes hit series Chicken Shop Date and Amelia's Cooking Show, and will focus on creating comedic content aimed at young people.