Coming Up on 4

25 August 2015

 

There’s a lot to celebrate going into autumn on 4. Channel 4’s peak-time share of viewing is up more than any other terrestrial channel, with the likes of Indian Summers and Humans breaking records as the most watched dramas on the channel in over two decades. For the second year in a row, Channel 4 won more BAFTAs than any other channel AND if that weren’t enough, there’s a brilliant autumn / winter line-up to look forward to. The next few months promises a rich and varied slate which in true Channel 4 style asks questions about the way we live today, wades into previously unchartered televisual territory and delivers a veritable feast of brand new and must see returning narrative series.

A full autumn / winter press pack can be found at www.channel4.com/info/press/press-packs/autumn-winter-2015-press-pack but following are some of the key upcoming highlights.

Kicking off autumn is the hugely anticipated final chapter of Shane Meadows’ multi award winning landmark series. Gazza’s tears. Hubble’s launch. Saddam’s invasion. Mandela’s release. This is 1990. This is England. And Lol, Woody, Shaun, Milky, Smell, Gadget, Harvey, Kelly, Trev and Combo are back for the final chapter – This is England ’90.

The epic Indian Summers returns for a second series with Rachel Griffiths, Art Malik and James Fleet joining Julie Walters and the rest of the cast for another summer in Simla. Loyalties are tested, relationships strained to breaking point and their world as they know it faces irrevocable change.

Brand new format, Hunted, a six part ‘real life thriller’ dramatically explores the scale of Britain’s surveillance state’s all-seeing eye by sending a group of ordinary Brits on the run. Can they evade capture by a team of expert hunters including an ex CIA agent, the ex-Head of the Counter Terrorist Unit and specialist digital analysts. If you had to disappear tomorrow and become a fugitive could you escape the tracks of your electronic footprint? Could you go off grid when CCTV captures us up to seventy times a day? What they do and where they go is up to them but one thing’s for certain … it’s not going to be easy.

Channel 4 has an unrivalled reputation for gaining unfettered access to institutions and previously unseen areas of life from maternity wards to African tribes. This autumn audiences will be get astonishing insights into the SAS selection process, a children’s ward and one of the most extreme destinations yet – deep-sea fishing.

SAS: Who Dares Wins gets up close and personal with one of the most physically challenging and psychologically demanding military entrance processes in the world – the SAS selection process. In a new fixed-rig series Channel 4 is putting a group of men from all walks of life through tests to which the SAS subjects its recruits, to discover if they have the psychological strength required to make the grade.

With unprecedented access to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, this 10 part series, Children’s Hospital (w/t) takes a unique and searingly honest look at parenting in Britain today. Cameras will follow a number of families before, during and after their hospital treatment, examining the responsibility, worry and laughter that comes with being both a parent, and a child.

Deep-sea fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in Britain. Every day dozens of deep-sea fishing crews are battling rough seas in order to hunt out the most valuable fish. But life at sea is so about so much more than fish. The work is tough, tensions are high and sleep is limited. The Catch shows fishing like you have never imagined it before.

Now who better to explore the subject of contemporary masculinity than frock-wearing, mountain-biking, father of one and chronicler of modern manners, Turner Prize-winning artist, BAFTA Award-winning presenter Grayson Perry? In his new series, Grayson Perry: All Man (w/t) Grayson will explore the changing lives and changing expectations of men in modern Britain. Grayson will spend time with men from different parts of society and make a number of artworks which will aim to distil the essence of his discoveries, before revealing them to the men who inspired them.

Talking of modern man, Levison Wood will be taking on his next epic adventure. Following his 2013 trek along the Nile from its source to the sea, this time attempting to walk the entire length of the Himalayas. Beginning in Afghanistan and trekking 1700 gruelling miles across the roof of the world, Levison will be travelling through some of the most remote, beautiful, and perilous places on earth, teaming up with local guides and meeting soldiers, monks and nomadic tribes as he tries to complete his challenge in Walking the Himalayas.

Jamie Oliver is back this autumn with two new projects. In Jamie’s Sugar Rush he will explore the huge contribution that sugar is making to rising global health problems. Travelling the world to investigate how everyone from young children to parents are being affected by advertising for sugary products and asking challenging questions about the urgent action needed to address this global issue.

In addition, in the six part series Jamie’s Super Foods, Jamie travels to some of the healthiest places on the planet to uncover the secrets of just why these areas have the most centenarians in the world. Inspired by his travels Jamie offers up nutritious and delicious meals to cook at home every day.

Staying with great chefs, in The Diner with Michel Roux Jr a group of eight young people with a range of disabilities will be mentored by the two-star Michelin chef in his first ever series for Channel 4. With the support of a number of back-to-work charities – the group are trained together, live together, seek work experience and ultimately, try and get jobs back home in catering and hospitality.

Channel 4 is marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with a feature length documentary Battle of Britain: The Last Few (w/t) and special event Battle of Britain: Heroes Fly Again (w/t) which will capture one of the most ambitious aviation celebrations ever seen in Britain – a flypast involving an estimated 40 Spitfires and Hurricanes, the most to come together in one place since WW2. Presented by Dermot O’Leary, these programmes will commemorate one of he most pivotal moments in our nation’s history as the last surviving veterans tell their remarkable stories and a very special tribute is paid to their legacy.

Over in comedy Channel 4 goes from strength to strength with a raft of critically acclaimed series returning this autumn. It will be the final outing for Peep Show as the 9th series brings Mark and Jeremy’s story to a close, BAFTA winning Matt Berry will return as Steven Toast in the third series of Toast of London, Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan are back as an unlikely trans-Atlantic parenting couple in hit show Catastrophe, and Jessica Knappett is back on E4 with more Drifters as the girls face more hilariously humiliating encounters.

Alongside these stellar returners Chewing Gum is a brand new comedy for E4 from rising star Michaela Coel. Tracey Gordon (played by Coel) is a religious Beyoncé-obsessed 22-year-old who is fast finding out that the more she learns about the world, the less she understands.

In early 2016, Crashing will make its debut on E4. Written by Phoebe Waller Bridge (Broadchurch, Bad Education and nominee for Most Promising New Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards) the comedy series crashes straight into the lives and loves of six twenty to thirty somethings. It’s about a time in your life when the reality of being an adult kicks you hard in the crotch. Caitlin and Caz Moran will also bring more tales of childhood from a Wolverhampton council estate for a second series of the much loved Raised by Wolves.

TFI Friday will be back for a ten part series this autumn following the triumphant return earlier in the year. Chris Evans will once again preside over shows packed with celebrity guests, leading music acts and colourful segments making it an unmissable fixture of Friday nights once again.

Examining contemporary issues and encouraging different views and perspectives are at the core of Channel 4 and this autumn three new films will examine the issues faced by young transgender people and their families. Young and Trans will follow two British children changing their gender at the extremely young age of seven. Plunged headfirst into the complicated, controversial word of transgender, parents are left struggling with colossal dilemmas about their child’s future. Testosterone Diaries will follow a group of young transgender men – who were assigned female at birth – as they document their incredible “rebirth” in online diaries and The Camp will follow a number of ordinary American families as they come together for a summer camp for trans and gender diverse 4 to 12 year- olds held in the USA.

With health, cooking, home improvement and property all being national obsessions Channel 4 has an array of series coming up to help viewers get their fix. BAFTA winning Grand Designs returns for its 15th series with more unique builds, Grand Designs: Britain’s Best New Build will showcase some of the most contemporary and cutting edge homes in the UK as they compete to win the prestigious RIBA architectural prize and Landmark Trust (w/t) will follow the work of the trust who look after historical buildings in the UK. The great outdoors will also be explored in Capability Found (w/t) with Alan Titchmarsh fronting a celebration of the life and work of Lancelot “Capability” Brown, Britain’s master gardener of the late 1700s. Over My Dead Body (w/t) is an exciting new health series presented by Davina McCall, which takes extreme examples of some of Britain’s most troublesome health issues and challenges them head on.

The past 18 months has established a raft popular series across all genres which are now firm favourites and will be returning this autumn / winter. Fresh Meat will be back for it’s fourth and final series as the end of university life draws close for JP (Jack Whitehall) and his housemates. In acquisitions Homeland and Fargo will back as well as the long awaited second series of French supernatural thriller, The Returned.

The First Dates restaurant will re-open its doors for more blind dates, Gogglebox returns with more opinionated households and following the first Undateables wedding in the last series, the series will be back following more extraordinary singletons. The Jump will also return in the New Year with famous faces competing in ever more gruelling winter sports.

And finally … after a hugely successful first year which has seen over 30 series go live, garnering close to 10 million views, upcoming Shorts include a look at the gritty underbelly of LA, an introduction to the new generation of über-successful teen vloggers, bite-sized horrors from Film 4, behind the scene exclusives from This Is England and talking ‘cash money’ with teenage lottery winners.