BBC unveils nations formats

All of the formats have been ordered from nations producers by entertainment commissioning editor Alan Tyler. He said the shows reaffirmed the corporation’s commitment to production outside of London.

Top of the bill is BBC1 Saturday night physical gameshow Can’t Touch This, in which contestants negotiate a giant assault course and battle to touch prizes to win them.

Tyler said the 10-part series, which will be produced by Sony Pictures Television’s Northern Irish indie Stellify Media, moves physical gameshows “on a notch”.

He added: “Total Wipeout had humour, but this format delivers a lot of wit and humour, and you can’t help rooting for them [the contestants]. It felt like this was something new in this space.”

Can’t Touch This will be shot in Belfast and executive produced by Kieran Doherty and Matthew Worthy. It builds on Stellify’s deal last year to remake Blind Date for Irish broadcaster TV3.

Meanwhile, BBC4 has commissioned 13 x 30-minute quiz The Hive (w/t), in which the answer to every question is hidden inside a honeycomb-style graphic of letters. The programme tests contestants’ general knowledge and mental agility in a race against the clock.

The Hive will help fill the gap left by the channel’s hit quiz series Only Connect, which moved to BBC2 in October 2013, but Tyler said it was not commissioned as a direct replacement. He added that BBC4 is testing other quiz formats.

The Hive is a co-production between County Down-based Green Inc Film & Television and London’s Saltbeef TV, and is due to be filmed in Northern Ireland later this year. The executive producers are Stephen Stewart and Jeremy Salsby, who said the programme aimed to uphold “the tradition of smart quizzes at the BBC”.

Only Connect, which began on BBC4, has also been commissioned for a second run on BBC2. The 29 x 30-minute series will again be presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell, who challenges contestants to make connections between apparently unconnected things. The series is co-produced by Parasol Media and RDF Television in Cardiff, and the executive producers are Chris Stuart and Mark Hill.

Also for BBC2 is So Television Scotland’s non-TX pilot Airheads, which features teams building and battling drones in a format that has echoes of 1990s gameshow Robot Wars.

It will be executive produced by So Television co-founder Graham Stuart.

BBC3, meanwhile, has taken Killer Magic to a 6 x 30-minute series that airs this month following last year’s pilot.

The format, which is voiced by Radio 1 DJ Matt Edmondson, features five magicians battling it out to avoid performing a notoriously risky illusion. It is produced by Objective Scotland and the executive producers are Andrew Newman and Anthony Owen.

Objective Scotland’s BBC1 archive magic show Now You See It will also return for a second 8 x 30-minute series in 2016. It is executive produced by Owen, Toby Stevens and Jo Bunting.

Tyler described Killer Magic as a “natural progression” in Objective’s magic repertoire. “Most smart indies identify their strengths, develop them and diversify from them,” he added.

Elsewhere, National Lottery format Win Your Wish List will return to BBC1 for a second series in 2016. The 8 x 50-minute Shane Ritchie-fronted quiz is produced by Victory Television Scotland and filmed at BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow. Victoria Ashbourne and Tamara Gilder are the executive producers.

Nick Knowles’ Who Dares Wins has also been recommissioned for an eighth series, while In It To Win It has been greenlit for an 18th run. Both shows are made by 12 Yard Scotland, with Michael Mannes and Zoe Tait executive producing.

Knowles will also host a BBC inhouse entertainment non-TX pilot in which couples try to match answers to questions under extreme time pressure to win a lifechanging sum of money. Filmed in Scotland, Perfect Match is executive produced by Leon Wilde for BBC1.