Channel 4 commissions music pilots

24 May 2013

Channel 4 has commissioned two music entertainment pilots for Friday night with a view to commissioning a full series for the autumn. The shows will take the shape of a live gang show and a giant pop quiz - both packed with stand-out live performances from the newest to the biggest names in music.

Hosted by Nick Grimshaw, That Music Show (w/t) will be set in an iconic music venue with a vibrant award-style feel and combine a competitive year vs. year pop quiz with a raucous music gig. Rounds will be bookmarked by exclusive live performances from the past, present and future of music.

The hour long show will be made by Wall to Wall and executive produced by The Voice exec Moira Ross.

Smells Like Friday Night (w/t) is an hour long live music magazine show presented by Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule from Rizzle Kicks, comedian Rob Beckett and Billie JD Porter. Mixing appointment-to-view music performances with cutting edge comedy and chat to capture the Channel 4 Friday night feeling viewers know and love.

Princess Productions and Fulwell 73 will be teaming up to produce the pilot. It will be executive produced by Duncan Gray for Princess Productions, and Gabe Turner and Ben Winston for Fulwell 73.

The TX pilots were commissioned by Channel 4 Head of Formats, Dominic Bird, and Music Commissioning Editor, Jonathan Rothery.

Dominic Bird said: “The level of engagement shown by both the independent sector and the music industry has been exceptional. Bringing a mainstream audience to music is a real challenge and these two shows provide us with a great opportunity to put music back on the agenda.”

Jonathan Rothery said: "We said last year that we wanted to provide a bigger platform for music on Channel 4 and the response from indies has been amazing - around fifty companies pitched over one hundred ideas. We’ve chosen these two fresh approaches to take to pilot, with a view to commissioning a full series for later this year”.

ENDS.