Jay Hunt brings sense of mischief back to Channel 4

11 May 2011

Channel 4's Chief Creative Officer, Jay Hunt, today announced new commissions across factual, drama, and comedy, signalling her ambition to make Channel 4 the home of creative risk by backing new talent, distinctive authored voices and programming that asks urgent questions about how we live today.  

Speaking at the presentation of Channel 4's Annual Report, Hunt said, ‘I believe Channel 4's future lies in pieces that take risks. Risks on new talent, risks on difficult subject areas, risks with style and execution. It's more important than ever that Channel 4 is prepared to challenge the status quo, to provoke debate and, above all, to be brave.'

Vowing to tackle vital issues of social policy in frank and engaging factual programming, Hunt pointed to Drugs Live, a science series that will take an unmediated look at the effects of illegal drugs and alcohol on the body. Programme makers will work closely with leading research institutes from around the world to bring much needed clarity to a social issue often mired in controversy or confusion. Under strict clinical conditions, the series will explore how addictive different substances are and examine their effects on the human body - both in the short and long term. The four-part series is commissioned from Renegade Pictures by David Glover and executive produced by Alan Hayling.

The dark underbelly of modern life is held up for examination in distinctive pieces from Bafta-nominated Charlie Brooker (Dead Set) and one of our most eminent contemporary writers, Robert Jones (Lennon Naked, Party Animals, Buried, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Cops).  

Jones' new four-part political thriller, Coup, explores the relationship between a democratically elected government, big business and the banks.  Greenlit by Channel 4 Head of Drama Camilla Campbell and produced by Company Pictures/Newscope Films,  Coup is based on the novel A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin, directed by Ed Fraiman (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Merlin, As If, A Thing Called Love) and produced by Johann Knobel (The Shadow Line, Shameless, Inspector George Gently). Executive producers are Jason Newmark, Ed Fraiman, George Faber and Charles Pattinson.

The modern world is also the subject of Black Mirror, a new darkly comic drama series written by Charlie Brooker (Dead Set) and commissioned by Head of Comedy Shane Allen. Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we've had time to stop and question it. In every home; on every desk; in every palm - a plasma screen; a monitor;  a smartphone - a black mirror of our 21st Century existence. Tapping into our contemporary unease about the way our lives are changing the three stand-alone dramas are suspenseful, satirical tales with a techno-paranoia bent - all audacious ‘what if' stories: some comic, some shocking. Black Mirror is executive produced by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, and series produced by Barney Reisz for Zeppotron.

In a brand new departure for Channel 4's comedy team, Nerys Evans has commissioned the department's first ever original animation. Happy Families is a quintessentially British satire on suburban family life. Written by brothers Jack and Harry Williams (Honest, The Amazing Dermot & Roman's Empire) and drawn by Alex Scarfe the six part series is made in LA by Rough Draft, the company behind The Simpsons Movie.

And the innovation continues online with a major cross-platform specialist factual commission examining the science behind using food as medicine. Patients suffering from a range of medical conditions and symptoms will attend The Food Hospital, where they will be prescribed specific diets to find out if their health problems can be alleviated by the food they eat.  The science will be put to the test nationwide as viewers will be invited to take part in a scientific study into how changes in diet can improve, if not cure, illnesses and ailments.

Alongside original commissions, Channel 4 continues to land some of the most eagerly anticipated US acquisitions. Hunt today announced that Channel 4 had secured the rights to series 1 and 2 of 20th Century Fox Television's version of cult smash The Killing. Based on the wildly successful Danish television series, Forbrydelsen,  the slow-burning crime thriller centres around the murder of a young girl in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation.  Speaking of the acquisition, Hunt said: ‘This intense, atmospheric crime thriller redefines the genre and sits perfectly alongside Channel 4's stable of award-winning, critically-acclaimed US shows'.