Thursday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Sky extends Gangs of London

UK pay-TV operator Sky has extended Gangs of London into a fourth season and has unveiled a raft of new shows at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

UK prodco Navybee is behind Gemma Collins: Four Weddings and a Baby (w/t), which follows the star as she prepares for marriage and motherhood.

Mindhouse will produce Alien Autopsy (w/t), which is helmed by Lockerbie director John Dower. It will uncover the mystery of 18 minutes of grainy footage from 1995 - the so-called alien autopsy footage – which appears to show three government officials in hazmat suits dissecting the corpse of an alien recovered from a crash-site near Roswell in 1947. Read more

Lifetime cuts unscripted role

A+E Networks-owned US cablenet Lifetime has cut a raft of senior staff including vice president of programming and development, Nicole Vogel.

The majority of its unscripted team has been let go, according to US trade Deadline, with job losses in the single digits. Lifetime’s unscripted strategy has been in considerable flux recently, with its local remake of Married at First Sight ending last year and moving to Peacock.

Lifetime is now shifting focus to TV movies, with the move leaving only Brie Miranda Bryant as senior vice president of originals on the unscripted side of the business.

Hallmark rings changes with 30 roles

US operator Hallmark had cut 30 positions as it looks to invest “in capablities that that will propel our business into the future”, it said.

The restructuring is set to hit most areas of the business according to US reports, with the rejig coming a month after it was announced that former Hallmark exec Michelle Vicary would be returning to the company as head of programming.