Channel 4 announces new slate of contemporary Specialist Factual

12 June 2017

Channel 4 today announces three major new Specialist Factual commissions.  All reflect Head of Specialist Factual John Hay’s drive for programmes that tackle the big issues, and events of our time, and hold the modern world up to scrutiny.

A Year of British Murder (w/t) will track all the murders committed in 2017, telling powerful human stories, revealing the often surprising themes that emerge from the data, and using the crimes as a lens on contemporary British society.  The Channel (w/t) is a four-part series that has gained unprecedented access to the multiple systems and users of busiest shipping lane in the world at a time when Britain’s relationship with continental Europe is changing profoundly.  Trump: An American Story (w/t) tells the story of modern America through one man, showing how he has embodied many of the movements that have shaped US society from the 1960s to the present day, from turbo-capitalism and political disenfranchisement to celebrity, reality TV and social media.  

Hay says: “As the youngest of the terrestrial channels, we're naturally focused on what's happening now and what's happening next.  I'm excited by ideas that start by asking 'What's going on in the world?' and then use Specialist Factual to interrogate, explain and challenge that.  And I think this slate shows a curiosity about the contemporary life, and a desire to shed fresh light on it, that's at the heart of a lot of our best programming."

 

A Year of British Murder (w/t)

This feature-length special is setting out to track all the murders that take place in a single year in the UK. Through gathering and deciphering 2017's homicide statistics, the film will reveal the emerging  and often surprising trends about who is being killed, who is ending lives, how and where they are taking place. It will explore the way we cover these terrible acts of violence, the stories we tell ourselves about them, and what they tell us about Britain today.

Multiple Bafta-winning director Ben Anthony (7/7: One Day in London, Life and Death Row, Don’t Take My Baby) will illustrate trends with individual stories telling the devastating impact of murder on the friends, family, colleagues and the ripples of trauma that reach the larger community of both the victims and the perpetrators. Collectively these cases will help build a powerful picture of murder in Britain and the society within which they occur.

A Year in British Murder is being made by Arrow Media. John Smithson is executive producer.

 

The Channel (w/t)

The English Channel is the busiest shipping lane in the world. In this ambitious, access-all-areas series, Channel 4 will explore how the vast interlocking system that powers the UK and connects us to Europe is a vital lifeline, and one which is changing fast.

This series will uncover why the Channel matters so much to Britain – discovering the surprising, entertaining human stories of the people keeping this gigantic operation going, following the workers who move hundreds of thousands of people and millions of tonnes of goods through this link every year.

From the Coastguard trying to keep cross-Channel swimmers out of the world’s busiest shipping lane, to the sea pilots guiding in the great cargo vessels to safety, to the track gangs toiling to keep trains moving beneath the seabed, this is a stretch of water teeming with hidden life. And as our relationship with Europe changes profoundly this year, this link to the rest of the world has never been more important.

Made by Blast! Films, the series producer is Will Rowson, series director is Owen Gower and executive producers are Edmund Coulthard, Alistair Pegg and Jon Stephens

 

Trump: An American Story (w/t)

Trump: an American Story (w/t), is a four-part series that charts Trump’s extraordinary journey through five decades as businessman, developer, media star, politician before reaching the White House.  It is also the story of modern America. A story of capitalism, celebrity, political gridlock, reality TV and social media.

Told through the extensive archive of his life and interviews with the people who have known him, the series reveals the people and events that shaped and created the President of The United States.

72 films is producing the series with David Glover and Mark Raphael as executive producers.