C4 announces major new commissions for 2016 from Minnow Films

17 November 2015

 

Channel 4 today announced at its Upfronts 2016 event for the advertising industry, a brand new commission from the makers of SAS: Who Dares Wins which will look at selection for the Secret Intelligence Service. At a time of increased recruitment for and focus on their work, this series will reveal the qualities needed to make it in the secret world.

The news comes as Channel 4 confirms it will recommission the hit SAS: Who Dares Wins for a second series.

The new 6 x 60 series of SAS: Who Dares Wins will see the same ex-Special Forces team put a new group of civilians through the jungle phase of Selection – a key stage of the regiment’s entry tests that ups the pressure on recruits after the Wales-based tasks seen in the first series.  Once again, every task they undertake will be taken from real SAS Selection, the series will be shot with minimal interference for maximum authenticity, and it will concentrate as much on psychological as physical fitness.  

The first series has been described as ‘the best show on television’ (The Sun), a ‘thoroughly-addictive series’ (Daily Mail) ‘superior entertainment’ (Daily Telegraph) with The Guardian commenting: ‘The watermark for challenging reality shows has reached a new high.’

It was one of the hits of the channel’s autumn schedule, attracting an average audience of 2.4 million viewers per episode and a 9.3% share of audience – up +24% and +22% respectively, compared with Channel 4’s slot average. The series drew an impressive 16% share of 16-34 year old viewers, outperforming Channel 4’s slot average by 46% for the key young demographic.

As with the first series of SAS: Who Dares Wins, both new series were commissioned by John Hay and will be executive produced by Colin Barr, Creative Director of Minnow Films. Both are currently in production and will be broadcast in 2016.

John Hay, Commissioning Editor for Channel 4 said: “The turn to the intelligence world feels timely and important and there’s no better team to tackle it than Minnow. They proved with SAS: Who Dares Wins that they can redefine this territory, in a beautifully-made series that revealed the emotional and psychological complexities behind the action man stereotype.  I’m delighted that we can take that series up a level with the jungle phase, as well as moving onto new ground.”

Colin Barr, Creative Director of Minnow said: “Working with Chief Instructor Ant and the Special Forces team on the first series of SAS: Who Dares Wins left us as thrilled and exhilarated as the audience. The intelligence world offers the same combination of surprising revelations and psychological complexity and feels like a chance to tell one of the greatest stories of our time from a new angle.”