FACTUAL TV
FACTUAL FOR A NON-LINEAR AGE
Alongside true crime, fashion, music and sport MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT UK
Based on a Danish format, CPL Productions developed the British Version of Married at First Sight for a Channel 4 launch back in 2015. Fast forward to 2022, the show has become a stand-out factual entertainment hit for the channel, morphing throughout its seven series. The Australian version played on E4 from 2017 and the UK version borrowed elements from its Antipodean counterpart, adapting to appeal to a younger audience, more at home on digital platforms. The UK version now runs on E4. “It started off more as classic factual entertainment, much more documentary based,” says Murray Boland, creative director at CPL. “It was a quieter watch.” There was no getting away from the dramatic premise, but the most recent two series have moved
the show firmly into the world of reality, with drama in its DNA. “It responds in so many ways to what’s needed, what broadcasters now require,” says Bolland. On the main channel, it needed to stretch to appeal to an older demographic; on E4 it can go all out for the younger viewers. “That’s the kind of audience linear broadcasters need, but find it very hard to target on the main channels.” Production values have had a make-over and casting has taken the show up a notch in terms of glamour. “It’s plotted out with storylines so you can’t wait until you see the next episode,” describes Bolland. “You need that for box sets, you want to watch the key characters throughout and introduce more characters later. You have to buy into people and want to watch through to the very end.”
are also top streamer documentary subjects, with the potential to bring a dedicated fan base. But they need epic scale. Box to Box films’ hit series for Netflix Drive to Survive has spawned a family of me-too titles in other sports. The formula is shot through with drama, leveraging access into different sporting worlds through characters and their stories, with a pace to keep viewers with the characters, and back for more. Meanwhile, Nutopia has been blending top
talent with factual, turbo charging specialist factual and bringing docudrama to new levels. Recent releases include Queen Victoria docudrama Royal Mob on Sky History. While Blood, Sex and Royalty, a contemporary take on the Anne Boleyn story, for Netflix, takes the factual indie into true drama. Nutopia founder Jane Root describes the show as “trailblazing.” Meanwhile her indie has been giving specialist factual mass, streamer appeal, with Hollywood A-list talent. Its latest Nat Geo/ Disney+ production, Limitless with Chris Hemsworth, is directed by Darren Aronofsky. Tom McDonald, evp of Global Factual
for National Geographic, based in the US, is responsible for leading the development and production of all global unscripted series and specials that feed Disney+ and Nat Geo’s linear channels. Speaking to wildlife filmmakers at Wildscreen in October, he asked for more drama, more playfulness. “We can learn from different types of drama,” he says. “Drama is always innovating around, for example, the chronology….
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televisual.com Winter 2022
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