UK pubcaster Channel 4 has commissioned Chalkboard TV for a factual entertainment pilot, The Slim Reaper (w/t), and a slate of gender-focused programs.
The one-hour pilot of The Slim Reaper [pictured] focuses on Russian weight-loss guru and ‘detox diva’ Galia Grainger, as two guests try to meet their weight-loss goal at Grainger’s Slimmeria center, a mansion in the Sussex countryside.
“We see The Slim Reaper as something of a Fawlty Towers for weight loss and we’re looking forward to unleashing Galia and the staff on C4 viewers,” said Chalkboard’s managing director Mike Benson, in a statement. Anne Nettleton will also executive producer the show with Benson.
In other C4 news, a season of programs exploring gender will include season two of Genderquake. In the Optomen series, 11 young Brits from a spectrum of gender and sexuality, live together for one week. A studio discussion, Genderquake: the Debate, will feature a panel of guests looking at what gender means in 2018, and is produced by ITN Productions.
What Makes a Woman? (w/t), meanwhile, is an immersive journey as filmmaker and subject Munroe Bergdof undergoes facial feminization surgery. This marks the first documentary from Bergdorf, a transgender model and social activist, who will tackle the science and social norms of gender. Antidote Productions produces.
Other projects on the topic include Riot Girls, a hidden camera prank show from Brown Eyed Boy, that takes on the gender pay gap and wo-manspreading; and Random Acts: The Lady That Dances, a Present Plus Film on transgender ballet dancer Sophie Rebecca, and transgender spoken word artist Ash Palmisciano.
Channel 4 lines up “The Slim Reaper” and “Genderquake”
