Latest in Channel 5

PBS Masterpiece and ViacomCBS UK’s Channel 5 have shown faith in All Creatures Great and Small with a rare double season order. Lead writer and exec Ben Vanstone had already all but confirmed a third run but the commitment to a seven-episode fourth is demonstrative of the success of the reboot of the 1980s UK hit…

UK broadcasters have committed to stop using the acronym BAME “wherever possible” in favor of specificity, as recommended by a report from the Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. In a rare joint press statement, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Viacom-owned Channel 5 said they will all try and move away from the “catch…

Channel 4 has signed industry vet Dawn Airey, who has held senior roles with ITV, Channel 5 and Sky, to its board, while issuing industry-first guidelines to producers working with disabled talent, presenters and contributors. Airey is one of four Non-Executive directors appointed to the board today who will serve a…

The co-founders of UK Million Pound… indie Definitely have moved to Banijay stablemate RDF to head up its creative team, with Definitely subsumed into RDF. Commencing in the new year, Rachel Arnold and Jon Green have also been given responsibility for RDF sub-labels Little Wonder and Fizz. Fizz Creative Director Neale…

Netflix’s Drug Lords and History 101 producer ITN Productions has hired A&E After Dark indie Crackit Productions’ Nicki Purcell as Head of Production, replacing Elaine Morris. Reporting into Managing Director of Television Ian Rumsey, Purcell will oversee the logistical, commercial and strategic direction of the…

Bodyguard star Nina Toussaint-White is to lead a Channel 5 thriller from Deceit producer Story Films. Toussaint-White will play Jodie in Witness No.3, a single mum who runs a hairdressing salon. One day at work, Jodie momentarily glances out of the window and in a split second her life descends into freefall. What she…

BBC1 And Amazon Round Off ‘Very British Scandal’ Cast BBC1 and Amazon Studios have rounded off the cast for Sarah Phelps’ upcoming drama A Very British Scandal. The likes of Poldark’s Richard McCabe, Fortitude’s Phoebe Nicholls and Trial of Christine Keeler’s Amanda Drew will join Claire Foy, Paul Bettany and Julia…

EXCLUSIVE: ViacomCBS-owned Channel 5 has raided the BBC again — this time securing the services of The Repair Shop star Jay Blades for new returnable series The Streets Where I Lived. Produced by Hungry Jay Media, Blades’ joint-venture with The Wheel producer Hungry Bear Media, the three-part series follows the…

“The world will know my innocence,” so says Jodie Turner-Smith in the first full trailer for Anne Boleyn, the highly-anticipated series in which the Queen & Slim star is transformed into an actual queen. The three-part Channel 5 series, first revealed by Deadline, will examine the downfall of Boleyn through the prism…

ViacomCBS’s UK network Channel 5 has dropped the first trailer for its hotly-anticipated Anne Boleyn series, in which Jodie Turner-Smith stars as the beheaded wife of King Henry VIII. The teaser trailer features Turner-Smith walking through the King’s court with some trepidation. The three-part series, first revealed b…

EXCLUSIVE: Ben Frow continues to grow his ViacomCBS UK empire after taking on editorial responsibility for streamer My5 for the first time, while his job title has changed from director of programs to chief content officer to reflect his beefed-up duties. Frow is tasked with supercharging the Channel 5 streaming…

This time last year, Ben Frow didn’t know how to use a laptop, had never worked from home for a single day of his career, and was terrified that his local supermarket was going to run out of food. “I was more worried about the shelves being empty than the Channel 5 shelf being empty,” says the mischievous and…