Channel 4 logs into The Circle for a second season

18 January 2019

The Guardian, Stuart Heritage: ‘…one of the standout TV shows this year.’

Digital Spy, Stephanie Chase: ‘The Circle has officially got us hooked!’

The Daily Telegraph, Judith Woods:  ‘…The Circle may change social media forever’

Channel 4 has commissioned a second series of ground-breaking reality gameshow series, The Circle with an extended run and a weekly live episode.

The first series – the biggest fixed rig, fast-turnaround show on British tv* – was Channel 4’s most popular new factual entertainment series for young viewers in 2018, proving a massive hit with young audiences on social and critics alike, becoming Channel 4’s youngest profiling show since 2012 with an average of 49.4% profile of 16-24s.  On All 4, The Circle was the biggest new original commission launch since 2012, with over 10 million views.

Produced by Studio Lambert and Motion Content Group, The Circle is the first reality show where players communicate via a social network.  Contestants live in separate apartments in a single building and play games and chat with each other through a unique voice-activated social media platform, called The Circle.  They rate each other frequently, unpopular players are ‘blocked’ and ultimately the most popular player wins a cash prize.  

The second series will see The Circle become more mischievous increasing the gameplay, drama and jeopardy.  Viewers will also be given greater control and increased interactivity with the game.  They will be able to influence how the contestants play – leading to unexpected and surprising consequences…

Kelly Webb-Lamb, Channel 4 Deputy Director of Programmes and Head of Popular Factual commented: “It was a genuine risk to take on such an innovative new reality format, but The Circle absolutely struck a chord with young viewers who were utterly gripped by the drama and relationships that unfolded on screen – even though the players never met.  The second series will have more of what the viewers loved – warmth, humour, more live elements and even more surprises. I’m excited to see how it will build on the success of series one.”

“We were blown away by the love on social media for our entertaining cast and the nightly drama of the show,” says Studio Lambert creative director, Tim Harcourt.  “This year we have some thrilling twists and turns in both our casting and the gameplay. We will also have a weekly live show that offers our audience more chance to engage and make a big impact on the narrative.”

“We have partnered with producers of some of the world’s biggest formats,” says Richard Foster, CEO of the Motion Content Group. “We believe The Circle is one of the most innovative formats for many years and with the support of Channel 4 and Netflix has a bright future in the UK and around the world.”  

In the live final last year, catfishing Alex Hobern, who took on the persona of Kate throughout the series, won a total prize of £75,000.

The Circle was commissioned by Channel 4 Deputy Director of Programmes Kelly Webb-Lamb and Factual Entertainment Commissioning Editor Gilly Greenslade.  The series will be made by Studio Lambert North and Motion Content Group. Executive producers for Studio Lambert will be Tim Harcourt, Darrell Olsen, Daisy Lilley and Toni Ireland. Martin Oxley will be executive producer for Motion Content Group.

 

The new series returns later this year.  You can register to apply for the series by visiting www.thecirclecasting.com

*The Players were observed by 106 fixed rig cameras – the biggest fast-turnaround rig on British television.

ENDS

PRESS ENQUIRIES TO:

Channel 4: Susan Wilks swilks@channel4.co.uk  T: 0207 306 3751

Studio Lambert: Lou Plank or Victoria Hartley-Wilson  T: 020 8995 3936

lou@plankpr.com/victoria@plankpr.com

Motion Content Group: Bella Osborne  Bella.Osborne@motioncontentgroup.com

About Studio Lambert

Studio Lambert is a production company based in London, Manchester and Los Angeles producing high quality scripted and unscripted series. It was established in 2008 by Stephen Lambert, creator of many well-known global formats including the Primetime Emmy-winning Undercover Boss (CBS and Channel 4) and BAFTA-winning Wife Swap (ABC and Channel 4). Last year the company's true story drama miniseries Three Girls for the BBC won five BAFTAs and the Prix Italia. Studio Lambert is currently producing scripted series for the BBC, Amazon and Liberty Global and new unscripted series for several UK and US networks. The company's creative director, Tim Harcourt, created the new reality series The Circle, which launched on the UK’s Channel 4 in September 2018. In a recent UK industry poll, the company was ranked #1 by its peers.

About Motion Content Group

Motion Content Group is a global content investment and rights management company. It invests and partners with the world’s leading talent, producers and distributors to fund, develop, produce and distribute premium content. Motion supports editorially and commercially vibrant networks and platforms by helping meet the ever-increasing demand for premium content, for the benefit of advertisers and its content partners. Headquartered in London and Los Angeles, Motion currently operates in 26 countries worldwide and has a broad range of award-winning programming distributed globally. Motion’s content investments include global hit and record-breaking format LOVE ISLAND (ITV Studios/Motion) produced in 11 countries with 2019 seeing the series launch on CBS in the US; Channel 4’s ground-breaking social media reality series THE CIRCLE (Studio Lambert/Motion) with international versions in production for Netflix; Sky originals family game show WILD THINGS with local productions including Russia, China and Argentina, and currently in production for RTL2 in Germany; long running series BEN FOGLE: NEW LIVES IN THE WILD (Renegade/Motion) and Indian talk show NO. 1 YAARI, now produced in five languages. Motion has also licensed global hit formats including MASTERCHEF SINGAPORE (Endemol Shine International) and THAILAND’S GOT TALENT (Fremantle). Motion Content Group is part of GroupM, the world’s leading full-service media investment management operation, a WPP company.