Brand new E4 comedy drama Gap Year

Here’s an exclusive look at brand new E4 comedy drama Gap Year. Centred on British lads Dylan (Anders Hayward) and Sean (Ade Oyefeso), who are childhood friends that initially set out to backpack through China, but end up taking on the whole continent.

 

The drama takes in ancient rainforests, full-moon beach parties, futuristic Asian mega-cities and remote monasteries in the foothills of the Himalayas. In the first episode, Sean is horrified to discover that his best mate Dylan has a secret plan that threatens to derail their ‘lads holiday’ to China. Things start looking up when they meet two American girls, Ashley (Brittney Wilson) and May (Alice Lee), and middle-aged hanger-on Greg (Tim Key). But, when old tensions resurface and create carnage at a music festival on the Great Wall, Sean suddenly finds himself way out of his depth.

 

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/exclusive-look-at-new-e4-travelling-comedy-gap-year

Brexit: Wife Swap Special Returns to C4

Channel 4 is set to bring back its multi-award winning format Wife Swap for a one-off Brexit special. The show that allowed families to experience different lifestyles and perspectives on the world, returns for an intimate look at the nation’s biggest talking point – Brexit.

The 60-minute episode, due to air later this year, will be the first since the show ended nearly eight years ago.will see couples from either side of the Brexit debate swap households for one week and live with a family with very different views.

Emily Jones, Commissioning Editor, at Channel 4 said:” Wife Swap was largely about how people chose to run their homes, but it always had political undertones. Now the world has changed and recent events have brought political issues into the heart of every household. What better time to bring back this much loved format to explore Brexit and hear firsthand the conversations happening in every home”.

Wife Swap first arrived on Channel 4 screens in 2003 and quickly became a global phenomenon. The final series aired in the UK in 2009.

 

BBC Spy In The Wild

Spy in the Wild (BBC ONE, January 12, at 8pm)

In one of the most innovative natural history series ever presented, a new nature series produced by the BBC deploys over 30 ultra-realistic animatronic Spy Creatures to go undercover in the animal world to capture unique animal behaviour closer than ever before.

Using special “spy cameras” invented by film maker John Downer’s team, the viewer is plunged into the very heart of the extraordinary lives of over thirty fascinating animals across the world, including langurs, orang-utans, meerkats and crocodiles, revealing behaviour that is remarkably like our own. To expose some of the most astonishing animal behaviour ever seen, the team of Spy Creatures go undercover.

These robotic look-alikes make all the right moves to not only be accepted by animals but also interact with them, providing revelatory insights into their world.

Each episode in this four part series is packed with a menagerie of animatronic Spy Creatures exploring the different aspects of animal behaviour: Love, Intelligence, Friendships and Mischief.

Director  John Downer said that the aim of the programme was to “capture these elusive moments where animals do something so extraordinary that makes us consider our own connection with the natural world. Inevitably those moments are rare but by deploying a menagerie of life-like Spy Creatures and other remote cameras over a long period of time and filming thousands of hours of footage it was possible to capture many never-seen-before moments”.

Spy in the Wild is broadcast on BBC 1, on January 12th at 8pm

New Gay Drama: Man In An Orange Shirt commissioned for BBC One

Patrick Gale by Dan Hall

BBC One has commissioned a two-part 1940s gay love drama written by British novelist Patrick Gale.

Man In An Orange Shirt tells two gay love stories, 60 years apart – stories linked by family, and by a painting that holds a secret that echoes down the generations.

Writer Patrick Gale says: “Man In An Orange Shirt is the most exciting screen project I’ve worked on to date: an original drama exploring strands of gay male experience since the 1940s. It has been such a privilege to be given such an open brief and then allowed to run with it. I don’t want to give too much away but after much experimenting, we’ve ended up with two hour-long films – one set in the 1940s and 50s, one set in the violently contrasted present; one depicting a love story made impossible by pressures from society, one a love story nearly derailed by the long-term fallout from the 1940s story.”

Man In An Orange Shirt is produced by Kudos for BBC One. The drama was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director, BBC Content, and Ben Stephenson, former Controller of Drama Commissioning. Executive Producers are Diederick Santer for Kudos and Lucy Richer for BBC One.

Channel 4 Announces First Dates Spin-Off

First Dates on Channel 4 has commissioned a spin off series

Channel 4 has commissioned a spin off to their First Dates serious called   ‘First Dates Hotel’.  The spin off will see Maître D’ Fred Siriex and his team welcome a whole host of hopeful singletons from all over the UK. First Dates Hotel will follow blind dates with a difference in a romantically charged boutique hotel in the French countryside.

This new series will include a brand new format where if the answer is ‘Yes’ their stay will be extended in romantic hotel and French countryside. And for some who don’t meet with success on their first date, they will be re-matched for a second chance at finding love.

Series Editor, Adam Chapman said: “Having worked across multiple series of first dates we’re really excited to develop the format and take into a new space. The hotel, whilst retaining all of the charm of the restaurant series will give the viewer the chance to see first dates develop into second dates answering that eternal question ‘what happens next’. Maitre-D Fred will be on hand as always to deliver a bespoke first date like no other. The First Dates Hotel will be the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern life; an oasis of romance where daters can concentrate on one thing and one thing only – finding love.”

For the past three years, First Dates have brought to us a contemporary but romantic alternative to the frustrations of modern dating. Now, for daters looking to take the next big step, First Dates is opening a hotel for a variety of people from all different backgrounds and ages.