Previously announced new commissions for 2019

30 January 2019

Drama

BAFTA-winning ‘This Is England’ filmmaker Shane Meadows returns to Channel 4 with The Virtues, starring BAFTA-winner Stephen Graham as a man confronted with the long-buried truth about his own childhood.

Academy Award and Golden Globe-winner George Clooney stars and directs this a six-part adaptation of Catch 22.  Hugh Laurie, Kyle Chandler and Christopher Abbott star in this darkly humorous, yet tragic and absurdist satire that is as timely now as it was when originally published 50 years ago.

New talent Emma Appleton leads a stellar cast in Traitors, a spy thriller set in the corridors of the Civil Service in the aftermath of WWII, a time of distrust and shifting alliances.  Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Keeley Hawes, Luke Treadaway, the series is written by acclaimed writer Bathsheba Doran.

Lucy Kirkwood’s Olivier Award-winning stage play, Chimerica has been updated to take place during the 2016 Presidential Election. Alessandro Nivola stars as a dedicated American photojournalist who has lost his way while trying to live up to his early success with a photograph he took nearly 30 years ago in Tiananmen Square.  The drama also stars Cherry Jones, Sophie Okonedo and Terry Chen.

Sarah Lancashire reunites with Jack Thorne for the final instalment of his acclaimed trilogy of dramas, The Light (w/t). In a community that has been left behind, a large construction project offers hope for a better future; regeneration, and much needed employment. But an explosion, followed by a catastrophic collapse, leaves many dead and the surviving community devastated.

Comedy

Created by Rufus Jones, the W1A actor stars alongside Rebekah Staton and Youssef Kerkour in Home, brand-new comedy series about an ordinary family who return home from a holiday in France with more than they’d bargained for – a Syrian refugee who has hidden in the back of their car, hoping to claim asylum in the UK.

BAFTA award-winning actor Matt Berry stars as hardened booze-hound Detective Inspector Rabbit in new comedy series Year of The Rabbit.  Bringing justice to the streets of Victorian London will be an all-star cast including Keeley Hawes, Sally Phillips, Jill Halfpenny, Freddie Fox, Susan Wokoma, Paul Kaye and Craig Parkinson. 

Aisling Bea writes and stars in This Way Up, a pin-sharp and poignant new comedy series about the social, mental and personal obstacles that people face in their own pursuit of happiness. Aisling stars as Aine, who is trying to pull her life back together after a “teeny little nervous breakdown” alongside Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan who co-stars as Aine’s sister, Shona.

Smash hit comedy Derry Girls is back!  Written by Lisa McGee, the first series was the biggest TV series ever in Northern Ireland.  Series two picks up with Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and Dylan through their teenage tribulations as they grow up in 1990s Derry.

Factual Entertainment, Features, Formats and Entertainment

From the makers of BAFTA-nominated Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes will examine our attitudes to dementia when a group of Alzheimer’s sufferers are put to work in a restaurant where they will be visited by members of the public and a host of celebrity diners including Hugh Bonnerville and David Baddiel.

A group of ordinary mums of teenage children will research the world of modern pornography and then produce their own mum-approved pornographic film in Mums Make Porn - a ground-breaking three-part series.

Fresh from the success of The Big Narstie Show which was one of Channel 4’s most popular programmes for young and BAME audiences, comedian Mo Gilligan will front his own comedy entertainment show in front of a live studio audience.

In a television first, five famous faces will join the ranks of the police force becoming volunteer ‘Special Constables’ in new four-part series, Famous & Fighting Crime. Katie Piper, Penny Lancaster, Jamie Laing, Sandi Bogle and Marcus Brigstocke will respond to real 999 calls, work in custody, and even CID as well as taking part in high risk drug raids and keeping order in rowdy city centres at the weekend.

In Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back, the comedian and self-confessed consumer champion known for his epic escalating battles with officials and companies galore, will turn his well-honed skills of complaining to dish out a hilarious dose of consumer justice on behalf of the great British public.

Never one to hold back from speaking her mind and resisting the urge to fit herself to any mould of femininity she’s ever come across, award-winning actress, writer and theatre director Kathy Burke is on a quest to discover what it really means to be a woman in Kathy Burke: All Woman.

Ground-breaking reality gameshow series, The Circle will be back in 2019 with an extended run, a weekly live episode and even more drama, jeopardy and mischief.  The first series that saw catfish Alex/Kate win a huge cash prize was Channel 4’s youngest profiling show since 2012 and a big hit on All 4 with over 10 million views.

With extremist attitudes on the rise throughout the Western world, broadcaster Alice Levine is moving in for a week with prominent British nationalist Jack Sen and his family in a bid to understand why in Sleeping with the Far Right.  

Marking the centenary of the nation’s council house movement, George Clarke’s 100 Years of British Homes (w/t) sets out to explore the very latest design and building methods to build the perfect council estate – a place where communities can grow and where people can be proud to live.  George will visit some of the world’s most outstanding social housing schemes, sharing ideas and experiences to help create part of a community neighbourhood in Manchester.

In Sex Class for Kids (w/t) parents and their children – including celebrities and their kids - explore the history of sex education in Britain and share their own memories and experiences of sex ed, from puberty to pregnancy.

Take That’s Howard Donald and IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti each lead a team of passionate petrol heads in Mission Ignition as the two teams battle it out to drive off in their dream car – if they can rebuild it first.

Factual and Current Affairs

Dan Reed’s unflinching two-part documentary Leaving Neverland about two men who recount their experiences of being sexually abused by Michael Jackson when they were children. 

Skint Britain: Friends Without Benefits explores the impact of the introduction of Universal Credit on one of the first 'guinea-pig' towns to experience life under the government's flagship new social welfare policy. 

A makeover show like no other, Drag Lab will introduce The Family Gorgeous, one of the UK’s most fabulous drag collectives.  They will be embarking on their first ever national road trip bringing glamour to different parts of the country to help ordinary Brits go on a voyage of self -discovery as they transform into a bigger, better, drag-enhanced versions of themselves.

Jamali Maddix meets the people finding new ways to sell sex, become celebrities – and maybe even change the world in Adventures in Futureland exploring the ever-changing digital era where social media has ripped up the rulebook and opened the doors to a whole new way of making a living.

UK premiere of Tim Wardle’s awards-nominated film Three Identical Strangers – the extraordinary story of three men in 1980s New York who discover as young adults that they are identical triplets who were separated at birth.