Channel 4 boosts Daytime schedule with raft of new shows

1 November 2012

Channel 4 Daytime has commissioned a raft of new programmes to further bolster the schedule with a fantastic line up, including Rory Bremner, Phil Spencer, Sandi Toksvig and Brendan Sheerin. 

Rory Bremner will front brand-new daily quiz show Race the Clock (working title).  The game show is centred around a simple dilemma: the more time a player is in control of the game, the more money he or she can win - but they also risk time running out and walking away with nothing. Only the audience knows how much time is left on the clock - even the host is kept in the dark.

It takes nerves of steel and quick thinking to make it through this rapid-fire quiz show, where time could be your friend - or your enemy. Made by Objective Productions Scotland, the 30x35 series will be on air in 2013.

Phil Spencer will front brand new quiz show The Common Denominator, which tests not what contestants know, but how they think. The questions are unique in that they ask the participants to think associatively, and don't require participants to know specific facts.

Contestants are asked to discover what two seemingly unlikely things have in common, for example what is the common denominator between the Hilton hotel and Eiffel Tower? Over three nail-biting rounds, contestants must outwit their opponents with a combination of clever lateral thinking and superlative general knowledge. The 40x30 series will be made by Remarkable Television and is based on a format by Israel's Armoza Formats. It will air in early 2013.

Coach Trip's Brendan Sheerin will bring his legendary tour guiding experience to a brand new format as he leads eight tourists on five day trips of a lifetime to exciting and exotic destinations across the world in Magical Mystery Tour (working title).

The catch on this tour is that everything is a mystery - where people are staying, what they'll be doing and who they are going to do it with. Contestants compete in mystery cultural challenges which will determine the quality of their holiday - winners earn mystery luxury upgrades like gourmet dinners, limos or suites in 5* hotels, whereas the losers must suffer budget downgrades and use public transport, stay on campsites or overnight in hostel dormitories.

The 20x30 series is made by 12 Yard Productions and will air in early 2013. Brendan will also front brand new series Brendan's Love Boat , made by Optomen, which will throw holidaymakers together on a cruise around the Mediterranean in a bid to help them find love.

And the ever popular Four Rooms will move into Daytime with an extended stripped run featuring 12 dealers in 2013. Fronted by Anita Rani, the 30x60 series will see members of the public hoping to walk away with big money as they try to sell all manner of curious items to the discerning dealers. The series is made by Boundless, part of FremantleMedia UK, and will air in early 2013.

Finally, Sandi Toksvig will front brand new game show 1001 Things You Should Know, which sees three contestants go head-to-head to prove they know the things they should know to be in with a chance to win the cash prize. The 30x30 series is made by Thames Scotland and is set to air in November 2012.

Channel 4 Head of Formats, Dominic Bird, said: "2013 is set to be an incredibly exciting year with a broad and distinctive range of programmes. This raft of new commissions reflects just some of the fresh and original output that will start to shape the daytime schedule in the coming months."'