Hot Picks: Hunted

Social experiment is back with a bang, with international broad- casters aggressively searching for edgy formats on the back of shows such as Married At First Sight.

Hunted is the latest British attempt to do something different.

The six-part series follows a group of 14 people who live off grid and attempt to go ‘missing’ for 28 days, by avoiding CCTV and ceasing to use mobile phones, bank accounts and social media.

A team of expert ‘hunters’ then attempt to track them down.

The format taps into the themes of privacy and online safety in a world where everything from cash withdrawals to supermarket shopping and text messages is monitored.

The show launched strongly on Channel 4, with overnight ratings of 1.9 million (9.9%), up on the network’s 1.6 million (7.8%) slot average. Some 33.1% of viewers were aged 16-34.

Hunted has a similar scale to C4’s The Island With Bear Grylls and Endemol Shine Group will be hoping that it can be sold into as many major territories as the adventure format.

The company’s international formats arm is launching Hunted at Mipcom. “Hunted is a groundbreaking, fresh new format that feels very relevant to our lives right now,” says Endemol Shine Group managing director of creative net- works Lisa Perrin. “

Many in the industry have tried to crack the entertainment chase genre and the team behind The Island have genuinely achieved it.

“The show leaves the viewer asking themselves what they would do in the same situation, and opens surprising discussions for the following day with friends and colleagues.”

Endemol Shine Group, which launched its newly merged inter- national formats and distribution arm at Mip TV in April, is also selling formats including Spelling Star, based on The Great Australian Spelling Bee, French format Big Music Quiz and Israeli game- show Fast Cash.