Don’t Look Down: Brave celebs to tackle terrifying high wire walk for Stand Up To Cancer

21 August 2023

A group of brave celebrities are to take on TV’s scariest challenge show in aid of Stand Up To Cancer.

Channel 4 has commissioned South Shore to make Don’t Look Down, an ambitious, large-scale challenge following a cast of famous faces as they attempt to work together to tackle an incredible high wire walk.

Paddy McGuinness hosts the series alongside leading a team of well-known personalities who will attend a summer training camp in the Austrian Alps, tutored by the world’s foremost experts in high wire walking. There, they will prepare for an unthinkable feat that has never been attempted before, to complete a relay walk, led by Paddy, on a wire looming high above the ground.

Over six weeks, our celebs will be coached to conquer their fears as they face a series of physically and mentally demanding training exercises and tasks designed to transform them from total beginners to those capable of scaling the heights. It will be an emotional journey as they must encourage each other and work as a team, while also overcoming their individual anxieties.

At the end of training, the group face the challenge of a lifetime - the most nerve-wracking and vertigo-inducing high wire walk imaginable. All they must remember is the key advice: Don’t Look Down!

Paddy McGuinness comments: “I’ve done all kinds of shows, but this is definitely the most nerve racking! I’m so excited to be hosting Don’t Look Down, which is undoubtedly going to be the challenge of a lifetime for everyone involved. I can’t wait to get cracking and see whether I can lead the team to find the nerve to take on this ridiculously high and very difficult walk. They’re not going to be in for an easy ride, but it’s all for such a brilliant cause and I hope we raise loads of money for Stand Up To Cancer. I’m now off to practice on the washing line.”

Don’t Look Down is a 5x60’ series in aid of Stand Up To Cancer. It was commissioned for Channel 4 by Steven Handley, commissioning editor, Entertainment with Phil Harris, Head of Entertainment and Events. It is produced by South Shore and the executive producers are Melanie Leach, Andrew Mackenzie and Caroline Davies.

Phil Harris, Head of Entertainment and Live Events at Channel 4, said: “Don’t Look Down is following in Channel 4’s tradition of boundary-pushing reality formats. It’s going to deliver everything from nerves and tears to laughs and camaraderie, cumulating in the most audacious of final stunts. We’re thrilled to be working with Paddy again as he hosts the series and leads our celebs in their sky-high challenge, all part of a hugely ambitious year of Stand Up To Cancer. This is event television not to be missed.”

Steven Handley, commissioning editor for Channel 4, said: “This is a challenge unparalleled and our celebs are going to need nerves of steel to overcome their fears and tackle the dizzying heights of Don’t Look Down. As someone who is afraid of heights myself, I’m already having anxiety dreams about the challenges involved in our Austrian training camp. I can’t wait to see how the gang work together to complete the terrifying walk and help raise vital funds for Stand Up To Cancer.”

Caroline Davies, Director of Programmes at South Shore, said: “Our super-sized high wire walk has never been attempted before. So we can't wait to see if Paddy and our brave cast of celebrities can overcome their primal fears of heights and complete this enormous challenge, all in aid of Stand Up To Cancer.”

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Notes to Editors:

About Stand Up To Cancer (UK)  

• Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 that brings the UK together to speed up progress in life-saving cancer research 
• Supported by the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) in the US and launched in the UK in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer funds translational research, turning academic breakthroughs in the labs into new treatments that make a real difference for people with cancer. 
• More than £93 million has been raised in the UK to date, funding 64 clinical trials and projects involving more than 13,000 cancer patients
• Research projects include the development of pioneering technology to detect super low levels of cancerous DNA in blood to improve the way we diagnose ovarian cancer, developing a new immunotherapy drug to boost the power of the immune system against cancer, exploring an entirely new approach to treating bowel cancer, and much more 
• Stars such as Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, Tom Hardy, Gillian Anderson, Idris Elba, Andy Murray, James Corden, Martin Freeman, Jamie Oliver, Richard Ayoade, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Crouch, Abbey Clancy, Danny Dyer, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Lily James, Rosamund Pike, Sophie Turner, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, Maya Jama, Joe Lycett and Roman Kemp are just some of the talent who have supported Stand Up To Cancer     

To find out more about Stand Up To Cancer and how you can support, visit su2c.org.uk or channel4.com/SU2C or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok