New Unscripted Content
Leading the autumn slate is Pooch Perfect (8 x 60 plus format), a primetime competitive reality show, hosted by Hollywood star Rebel Wilson, which sees professional dog stylists compete in a series of ‘pawsome’ themed challenges to create epic ‘transfurmations’ of adored family pets. It’s packed with useful information for dog owners, but the incredible reveals on the ‘Dogwalk’, where the judges decide who stays and who goes ‘walkies’, make it a perfect entertaining watch for all the family. Pooch Perfect was created by Beyond Productions, who are currently producing a UK version for BBC One with Sheridan Smith OBE as host.
Edges Unknown (7 x 60) from 4East Media is a fascinating travel and adventure title that follows two survival experts as they head back in time to take on the original toughest jobs, such as logging and ranching. Curse of Akakor (6 x 40) from Beyond Productions follows investigators hunting for a city of gold and the explorers who vanished trying to find it. Mixing travel with cars is Lovecars’ On the Road (6 x 60). From supercars to electric innovators, this series features a wide variety of different vehicles, driven through some of Europe’s most incredible landscapes. In obs-doc series Undercut: Wooden Treasure (9 x 60) from GiUMa Produzioni, cameras follow the strenuous and dangerous work of highly qualified lumberjacks.
In World’s Greatest Paintings (10 x 60), Andrew Marr gets exclusive access to galleries and museums across the world to unlock the secrets behind ten iconic masterpieces, created by artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh and Velazquez. Buck Production’s Life, Death & Money (10 x 60) offers a revealing look at celebrities’ lives and deaths by the money trails they leave behind. Emotional documentary Can We Cure Kids’ Cancer (1 x 60), from Atomized Studios, takes us inside the world-famous Royal Marsden hospital in London to follow children undergoing both cutting-edge and traditional cancer treatments, while Starbucks & Nespresso: The Truth About Your Coffee (1 x 30) exposes the use of child labour by some of the world’s largest coffee suppliers.
Sex is on the agenda with Barcroft Media’s Sex Unlimited, a revealing 5 x 60 series that takes an insightful look at the ways people use sex to enhance their lives, increase their wealth and complement their relationships, while Embarrassing Sex Stories (1 x 90) from Gobstopper TV sees people sharing their sexy escapades in a countdown show like no other! Meanwhile, Sugar Babies (1 x 60), from Transparent TV, provides an eye-opening look at both sides of the ‘arrangement’ in the hidden world of sugar dating.
New history titles on the slate are Race to Victory (6 x 60) from CIC Media, which tells the thrilling story of how the allies raced to win – and end – World War 2 while also seeking to gain territory and power advantages from each other, and Titanic: A Dead Reckoning (1 x 60), from TH Entertainment, which uses fresh evidence to reveal a new suspect in the search for the nearby ship that sailed away as Titanic was sinking, leaving 1500 people to perish.
Crime and investigation titles include Murder in the Outback: The Falconio & Lees Mystery (4 x 60), offering a long-overdue re-examination of Peter Falconio’s disappearance and the high-profile murder trial that followed, plus three series of Bristow Global Media’s Haunted Hospitals (39 x 60), which tells chilling stories of paranormal activity inside hospitals, nursing homes, morgues and medical institutions. There are also two series of reality title Filthy House SOS (18 x 60) from Gobstopper TV, which captures cleaning duo Jon and Brennan staying at some of Britain’s filthiest and most cluttered homes, looking to transform them in just three days, and 7 x 60 episodes of obs-doc title Extreme Nightmare Tenants from BriteSpark Films.
Finally, the slate features a number of new seasons for long-running, returning series including Air TV’s Bangers and Cash S3 (10 x 60), Great Pacific Media’s Highway Thru Hell S9 (18 x 60) , Abandoned Engineering S5 (12 x 60) from Like a Shot Entertainment, Highway Patrol S11 and Motorway Patrol S18, both 10 x 30 from Greenstone, Pati’s Mexican Table S9 (11 x 30) from WETA / Mexican Table and Love It or List It S9 (26 x 60) from Big Coat Productions.
New Kids’ Content
Leading the kids’ slate is Turbozaurs (56 x 6 or 26 x 12), created by Caramel & Co Animation Studio. This new animated pre-school series features a dynamic team of friendly and helpful dinosaurs who can transform themselves instantly into amazing machines to undertake rescue missions and other adventures. Also for pre-school children, Annie and Manny (26 x 7) from Mustache, is an animated series about two sibling rabbits exploring their surroundings. For older kids there’s Ace My Space (10 x 30), a Tailored Films production offering kids the opportunity to win a complete makeover for their bedroom, with the catch being that they have to allow a friend or family member to take total control of all design decisions, and The Wacky Word Show (13 x 30), produced by Apartment 11, a fun and crazy new variety show that inspires kids to get creative with words and language.
The Beyond Rights Pitchroom
Beyond Rights will be launching its new autumn slate to buyers across the MIPCOM period via the new Pitchroom online platform developed by i2i Media. Pitchroom is a branded, secure online environment which facilitates webcam meetings and allows for the simultaneous presentation of a wide range of assets, including digital catalogue pages, videos and presentations.
Kate Llewellyn-Jones, CEO at Beyond Rights comments: “I am excited to launch Beyond Rights’ first ever programme slate. From primetime entertainment and reality to history, true crime and kids’, our new programming clearly reflects our strengths in the marketplace and our ambition to work with and represent the best producers from around the world, both third-party and within our own group. With so many new titles to launch, Pitchroom will enable us to quickly and simply bring our new content alive to buyers in a face-to-face, tailored meeting environment, allowing us to replicate some of benefits we will be missing from meeting in person in Cannes.”
