New 10pm documentary slate announced for Channel 4

11 December 2014

A new documentary which will interview America’s youngest sex offenders has been announced as part of a new slate of documentaries on Channel 4.

America’s Youngest Sex Offenders and America’s Youngest Violent Criminals (w/t) has secured unprecedented access to the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana. In America, it’s estimated that more than a third of all child sex offenses are committed by juveniles.

The other documentaries, which have all been commissioned by Anna Miralis, Commissioning Editor for Documentaries, include Sex Party Secrets, Married Behind Bars, Drug Runners: The Peruvian Connection, The Mega Brothel, The Escorts and My Skinny Self Harm Nightmare. 

The new slate of programming compounds Channel 4’s commitment to bold, authored documentaries, featuring the most compelling stories from across the globe. In the last year, Channel 4 increased its commitment to single documentaries totalling 40-50 across the year.

The announcement comes at the end of a triumphant year for Channel 4’s Factual department, which saw it pick up 24 awards for programming including one International Emmy, two Baftas and eight Grierson Awards earlier this month.

While the subjects are varied and with both a national and international scope, these new documentaries continue Channel 4’s remit to commission brave and innovative storytelling.

Anna Miralis, Commissioning Editor for Docs: ‘This is a really golden time for the documentary form, and nowhere more so than at 4. These stories all share the same qualities that are the mark of all our documentaries: those with brilliant access to bold singular stories which reveal jaw-dropping actuality of worlds that we never normally see. I’m constantly looking to be surprised, either with form or subject matter, and to reveal in interesting and unusual ways, those people and communities whose fascinating stories can only be told by Channel 4.’

Miralis’ recent successes for the channel include The Paedophile Hunter, the controversial documentary following the work of vigilante Stinson Hunter who poses as a child on social networking sites to draw out men who they assert have paedophilic predilections.

 

Sex Party Secrets (w/t)
Minnow Films 1 x 60

Sex Party Secrets from Minnow Films (Dogging Tales, My Granny the Escort) is an observational film going behind closed doors at elite erotic parties.  Told from the point of view of both the guests and party organisers, the film will take an open-minded look into the world in which these participants inhabit, from selective members clubs in the UK to sex parties in Ibiza.

Executive Producer: Morgan Matthews

 

Inside The Mega Brothel (w/t)
Keo Films 1 x 60

Inside the Mega Brothel from Keo Films (Skint, Scandimania) goes inside Europe’s largest legal brothel, the Paradise Club in Stuttgart. Prostitution has been legal in Germany since 2002, and capitalising on the booming sex trade is the club’s owner Jurgen Rudloff, who established the 15,000 sq. ft. establishment in 2008. Directed by filmmaker Ed Watts, the intricate film will meet the staff and clientele at the club and see how the decriminalising of prostitution has had mixed outcomes for all involved.

Executive Producer: Will Anderson and Andrew Palmer

Director: Ed Watts

 

The Escorts (w/t)
Amos Pictures 1 x 60

The Escorts is a no-holds-barred documentary looking in to the lives of two high-class prostitutes in their 20s. The film follows two flatmates, one a porn star and the other a privately-educated country girl, living the high life in Mayfair, charging thousands of pounds a night for sex.  Their business model relies heavily on Adult Work, a powerful location based app, which connects suppliers and consumers of sex for sale, in all its alarming forms. These women insist they are independent, high-earners at the very top of the market who genuinely enjoy having sex with wealthy men for money. They say they are on a roll but now that one of them has fallen in love, how long can it last?

Director: Dan Reed.

 

Married Behind Bars (w/t)
Century Films 1x60

Married Behind Bars goes into the heart of the US prison wedding community where the ‘happy day’ involves a minefield of regulations from strict dress codes, to an x-ray machine and bullet-proof glass. The film follows three American brides who have decided to tie the knot while their other half is inside. Eighteen-year-old Nancy prepares to marry her gang member boyfriend; ex-convict Kristen is getting hitched to fiancé Jesse who is serving five years for armed robbery, and in Texas, April waits for news of the eighth appeal for the release of her childhood crush, and now husband, Shawn.

Executive Producer:  Liesel Evans

Producer/Director: Nick Leader

 

Drug Runners: The Peruvian Connection (w/t)
Ronachan Films 1x60

Around 50% of the cocaine found in the UK originates in Peru. And it is primarily young European women who are acting as the mules. Stopping the Peruvian drug traffickers has now become a priority for the British government, as every day, huge quantities of the drug are carried across international borders.  This remarkable documentary has secured unprecedented access to both smugglers and law enforcement agencies to provide a unique insight into the global war on drugs.

Executive Producer Angus Macqueen

Director: Dimitri Collingridge

 

My Skinny Self Harm Nightmare (w/t)
Minnow Films 1 x 60

Rates of eating disorders and self-harm among young people are increasing and experts are warning this could be connected to the growth in pro-anorexia and self-harm websites. Thousands of blogs and websites have emerged, made by young people and encouraging their users to compete to lose more weight or glorify their own self-harm. They include images of emaciated bodies alongside tips and tricks on how to make yourself vomit or hide your self-harm scars from your parents.

This film shows three young women who have been drawn into this chilling online world and lived with the consequences. Intense, intimate and revealing, they share the step-by-step accounts of how their illnesses developed, and the painful steps to recovery.

Executive Producer: Morgan Matthews

Director: James Cohen

 

America’s Youngest Sex Offenders and America’s Youngest Violent Criminals
Plum Pictures 2 x 60

In America at any one time there are over 70,000 children behind bars. This extraordinary two-part documentary from an award-winning production team will explore some of the toughest juvenile prisons in the US and meet the child inmates, some of whom have committed the most shocking crimes imaginable.

Executive Producer: Stuart Cabb

Series Producer: Lisa Keane

Series Director: Matt Pelly

 

For more information

America’s Youngest Sex Offenders; America’s Youngest Violent Criminals; Drug Runners: The Peruvian Connection: Katherine Solomon, Channel 4 Press Office

My Skinny Self Harm Nightmare; Married Behind Bars: Sarah Sherwin, Hummingbird Communications

The Escorts: Lucy Zilberkweit, Channel 4 Press Office

Sex Party Secrets; The Mega Brothel: Nick Walker, Channel 4 Press Office