David Farnor | On 12, Jul 2020

All 4 has unveiled its line-up of highlights for the coming months. From the exclusive box set of Justified to return of The Steph Show, it’s a mix of timely documentaries, US acquisitions and series filmed both in and out of lockdown.

July

Escape to the Chateau: Make, Do and Amend

Dick and Angel Strawbridge return to Channel 4 this summer with a new four-part DIY and homecraft series, helping the nation to solve make-do and mend dilemmas with clear ‘how to’ advice, plus their own inspirational tips and tricks.

Filmed by the Strawbridge family at their fairy-tale chateau, Dick and Angel will team up with families from across the UK who are looking for practical advice and inspiration for a home project of their own. Along with their children Arthur and Dorothy, they’ll also tackle their own ‘dream’ projects ending with a ‘big reveal’ and try out new pastimes to keep their family entertained.

August

Yorkshire: On the Job

This major new documentary series will take viewers inside one of the final Great British institutions: the Jobcentre. With unprecedented access to Southern House – a bustling Jobcentre Plus in the heart of Leeds – this series will document the stories of both staff and customers: finding out what life is really like on the benefits frontline in 2019. With 35 dedicated job coaches seeing up to 600 customers every 24 hours, anyone and everyone can come through the doors.

The team at Southern House believe that most of life’s problems can be solved with a job and everyone deserves a shot at earning a living. They face more challenges than most public servants do – with dislike and distrust of the benefits system at an all-time high, their work is often inglorious. This programme will shed light on what it takes to get people into employment.

Lockdown Diet

A new three-part series for Channel 4 produced by Wall to Wall and presented by doctor, best-selling author, science broadcaster, creator of multiple dieting systems and regular newspaper columnist Dr Michael Mosley. He will be sharing facts, tips, his diet expertise and ground-breaking lifestyle plan, to get us all healthier and feeling even better than we did before lockdown.

Inside Misguided: Made in Manchester

With exclusive access, this four-part series explores the dizzying growth and frenzied expansion of Missguided – one of the UK’s largest online fashion retailers and reveals what life is like for their young, female dominated workforce. Nitin Passi, the company’s maverick owner, saw his Manchester based company go from zero turnover to over 200 million a year. But after eight years of enormous success, Missguided lost £26 million in 2017/2018. The series will follow the brand as they double down their efforts and attempt a glitzy comeback.

Peter The Human Guinea Pig

In 2017, scientist Peter Scott-Morgan learned that he had Motor Neurone Disease (MND). From the very start he saw this terminal diagnosis as an opportunity to put his fascination with robotics into practice and become the world’s first human cyborg. The film documents Peter’s amazing journey, which will have profound implications for many people who suffer from conditions like MND, as well as opening up the biggest question of all: what does it mean to be human?

Lost at Sea

In 1983, Peter Bird became the first person to row the Pacific Ocean single-handed. Crossing 8000 treacherous miles in a 29-foot row-boat, with no support vessel, was an achievement comparable to Hillary and Tenzing’s ascent of Everest 30 years earlier. Peter Bird became an international legend and over the next 15 years, he continued to set new records, including the longest time a person had ever spent alone at sea. In 1991 Peter, and his partner Polly, had a son, Louis. Despite this, Peter continued to go away to sea for nearly a year at a time. On a 1996 crossing, he disappeared, his empty boat, with film camera still attached, was recovered, but Peter was never found. Louis was just 4 years old.

This film follows Louis’s attempt to piece together his father’s life.

Crime and Punishment

BAFTA-nominated Crime and Punishment, returns to examine our Criminal Justice system. Four years in the making and filmed over two, and with access to the MOJ, Police, the CPS, Defence lawyers, Probation, The Parole board, HMP Winchester, Victim Support and numerous other organisations and services in the system, this five-part series explores the width and breadth of Justice in our country.

This series focuses on the challenges and dilemmas, and how successive governments and a decade of cuts have impacted the system and the British public.

Outbreak: The Race Against the Virus

A fast-paced thriller that explores the biggest story in the world – the coronavirus outbreak – through the eyes of a handful of key scientists who are tasked with fixing the problem. This timely documentary features extraordinary access to some of the individuals driving the fightback against the virus – from the virologists at Oxford University who are the furthest ahead in the global hunt for a vaccine to the leading epidemiologists who are mapping out how and when it’s safe to ease the lockdown.

Filmed before and during lockdown, Race Against the Virus is a nail-biting, real-time narrative underpinned by genuine scientific revelations – the coronavirus story as it’s never been told before.

The Talk

‘The Talk’ in the Black community prepares children for the reality of living in a society where their skin colour marks them out for a lifetime of challenges white people may not understand. The first talk normally happens around age 4 to 7 and marks the day a child loses their innocence. Parents have to explain that, because of the colour of their skin, some people think they are less worthy of respect. Children are taught what to expect and how to react; advice based on experiences suffered by family, friends and neighbours.

The film will feature a cast of leading public figures sharing memories of the talk(s) they’ve given or received, contextualised by family archive or an event that triggered the talk such as a prominent death in police custody.

Can Jimmy Save the Bees?

A third of Britain’s bee species have declined since 1980 – an alarming trend that threatens the collapse of entire ecosystems, and the viability of agriculture which relies on natural pollination. In this three-part series commissioned for Channel 4, Jimmy Doherty attempts to show the declines are not inevitable. Focusing on areas around the city of Peterborough, he will attempt – over the course of one year – to measurably increase the number of bees and related insects. He will demonstrate how farmers, businesses and local government can all help to solve the problem. And he will also show viewers of the series how they too can play their part.

Jamie: Keep Cooking Family Favourites

Filmed at Jamie Oliver’s home, this eight-part series features recipes created by Jamie for his family, having challenged himself during lockdown to create brand-new dishes he hopes will become favourites for the whole family. The much-loved chef will be creating simple, affordable and delicious meals with the ingredients lots of us already buy. Taking inspiration from the average weekly shopping basket, Jamie will make problem-solving meals for every need; from quick, tasty dinners to secret veg hidden in yummy dishes – all using ingredients most of us buy every week. He’ll also be rustling up useful staples to add to our regular repertoires, as well as easy but extra-special family favourites and crowd pleasers.

September

Gogglebox

With its highest viewing figures to date and loved by critics and viewers alike, the multi-award winning Gogglebox has consistently been one of Channel 4’s biggest hits and continues to reflect different communities across Britain. Returning for a 16th season of 15 episodes, Britain’s sharpest armchair critics are set to once more share their insightful, passionate and sometimes emotional critiques of the week’s biggest and best shows.

Grayson’s Big American Road Trip

In this very personal three-part documentary, award-winning artist and social commentator Grayson Perry travels across the US, on a custom-built motorbike he designed especially for the journey, to explore some of the biggest cultural and political fault-lines in the country. As America gears up for a crucial presidential election, the nation seems to be growing ever more divided.

The Write Offs

Imagine not being able to read a text message, the destination of a train, or use the internet. Five million people in Britain wake up to that reality every day with one in five adults considered to be functionally illiterate. An empowering and uplifting new two-part series hosted by Sandi Toksvig will explore Britain’s staggeringly low adult literacy rates and offer a group of adults – aged from 22 years to 66 years – a lifechanging opportunity to overcome the one thing that has always held them back. The eight adults, all of whom lack the basic skills necessary for many everyday situations, have different personal motivations for wanting to improve their literacy. Mentored by a team of experts, the group will face various extraordinary reading, writing and spelling challenges along the way in a quest to change their lives. Their efforts will culminate in an emotional final test held in front of an audience of family, friends and teachers as the contributors endeavour to shed the shame and lift the stigma around illiteracy.

The Steph Show

After its brief stint as a lockdown production, Steph McGovern returns to Channel 4 Daytime with a daily show broadcast live from Leeds Dock. Steph will present the show from a new studio overlooking the Leeds waterfront. Each day she’ll be joined by a studio audience as she, and a host of new faces, bring positive vibes to the nation’s lunchtime. The show will feature celebrity guests as you’ve never seen them before, fantastic food and a mix of the best entertainment, lifestyle and consumer stories making the headlines.

24 Hours in Police Custody

24 Hours in Police Custody will return in the autumn with a new set of five films each featuring exclusive access to a high-octane police investigation into a major crime.

It is estimated that there are currently more than four and a half thousand active Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) operating in the UK so there will be a particular focus on the impact of organised crime and the drug crime which it thrives off. Viewers will be given an extraordinary insight into the unprecedentedly innovative & audacious lengths police now go to bring these top-level criminals to justice.

Call the Cops

The role of the police is changing, new threats, greater demands on their time and dwindling resources all mean the job is more challenging and dangerous than ever before. With a larger geographic area to police than any other force in the country and over 700 miles of coastline the incidents that Devon & Cornwall officers attend are as unexpected, violent and sometimes outright shocking as those of any large city. Call the Cops is based in the beating heart of operations, the control room. Officers here have to prioritise cases and allocate units in a fast-moving game of chess, a challenge they liken to juggling chainsaws whilst being on fire. The series also follows the units on the ground as they adapt to each unique incident – switching between the emotionally testing cases of a suicide or fatal road traffic collision, the adrenaline in a race-against-time manhunt or the delicate diplomacy of dealing with a truckload of illegally smuggled refugees. For anyone who imagines crime in the West Country is all sheep hustling and pasty thefts this series is a dramatic wake-up call.

December

Tom Allen Goes to Town

Comedian Tom Allen loves travelling around the UK – and as a Bromley boy it’s small town Britain he particularly loves. In this new special commissioned by Channel 4, Tom champions one of those unsung places: Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Spending a week in Wakey – a city, not a town – Tom stays with a local family while seeing the sights and meeting some of Wakefield’s extraordinary characters, before putting on an end of week show to celebrate everything and everyone he’s encountered. Along the way, he takes in one of the world’s biggest rhubarb crops, explores Wakefield’s beautiful cathedral, visits one of the only drive-in fish and chip shops in the world and buys a round of Wakefield’s famous steak pies.

Date TBC

Taskmaster

Three-time BAFTA and Emmy Award-nominated, and Broadcast Award-winning Taskmaster arrives on Channel 4. The hugely entertaining irreverent show hosted by Greg Davies as the all-powerful ‘Taskmaster’, alongside Alex Horne as his loyal assistant, sets out to test the wiles, wit and wisdom of five hyper competitive comedians through a series of strange and surreal challenges.

Taskmaster was created by Alex Horne and started as a live show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before being developed for television, initially with Channel 4. It was later commissioned by UKTV for Dave where it aired nine very successful seasons. Now, Taskmaster returns to Channel 4 for its brand-new tenth season, with episodes repeated on E4.

Married at First Sight

TV’s most talked-about social experiment, where strangers meet for the very first time at the altar to get married, returns for a revamped four-part series. The CPL-produced global smash hit is set to return with new couples yearning to meet their soulmate and ready to put their faith in a fresh team of matchmakers. This time, the singles will be paired by two of the world’s best matchmakers: Oprah’s ‘Love Doctor’ Paul C Brunson who is known as the ‘real-life Hitch’ as well as a dating agent on E4’s Celebs Go Dating, and leading UK matchmaker Genevieve Gresset. Between them they have paired thousands of couples. They’ll also be assisted in their love matching by psychologist, Dr Angela Smith. The refreshed format charts each couples’ efforts to make life as husband and wife work, before they make a crucial decision – whether to part ways or remain in wedded bliss.

Great Canal Journeys with Sheila & Gyles

Loved by critics and viewers alike, Great Canal Journeys returns with two new intrepid explorers in the shape of good friends and former Celebrity Gogglebox co-stars Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth. With Timothy West joining the pair in the first episode to show them the ropes, we’ll follow our new skippers as they embark on a journey of Britain through its most famous canal routes.

Grand Designs

Kevin McCloud makes a welcome return to our screens as he follows some of Britain’s most ambitious self-building projects, as intrepid individuals attempt to design and construct the home of their dreams. As ever, Kevin will track each unique and extraordinary build from dream to reality as each family contends with contractors, money worries and the elements.

Nerves and patience are tested but as always, Kevin is on hand with sage advice, reassurance and his famously arch reactions to these ever bolder, Grand Designs.

Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country

This new eight-part season follows Sarah, her husband Graham Swift and their four sons as they quit their lives in London to start anew in what they hope will be a rural idyll. The family has bought a semi-derelict former dairy farm in Somerset where, surrounded by 220 acres of farmland, they’re planning on building the house of their dreams; a modern, carbon neutral mini stately home. Sarah and Graham also have ambitious plans to landscape the grounds as well as rewild sections of the farm.

Ugly House to Lovely House

A fresh eye can transform even the ugliest house into a dream home. George Clarke returns to transform some of Britain’s most unloved homes with the help of some of Britain’s most leading architects. If they get it right, they can prove that great architecture doesn’t have to cost the earth. This five-part series will include a 1960s Hampshire home that is due an overhaul, and an interwar house in South London in need of a 21st century update. Plus, George will be revisiting home owners from previous episodes to see how they’re getting on in their remodelled homes.

Adult Material

From award-winning writer Lucy Kirkwood, Adult Material delves inside the modern porn industry from the perspective of a woman who has been working in it her entire adult life. Adult Material interrogates what’s real, what’s fake, what’s up for sale and the impact that these things have on the individuals involved. Jolene (Hayley Squires – I, Daniel Blake, The Miniaturist) is a mum of three and leading British porn star for two decades. Maybe in porn years she’s getting on, but she’s a hard worker and she loves what she does. After all, porn is one of the only industries in the world where women don’t just get paid equal to men…they get paid more. Jolene is introduced to 19 year old Amy (Siena Kelly – Vanity Fair, Temple). An aspiring dancer recovering from an injury, Amy looks up to Jolene. But Jolene can’t protect Amy from her own choices, and soon her relationship with this unstable young woman will see Jolene’s own career and complicated home life start to unravel, as everything Jolene thought she knew about herself comes undone. Also stars Rupert Everett, Kerry Godliman, Joe Dempsie, Julian Ovenden and Phil Daniels.

Maxxx

From writer, director and star O-T Fagbenle (Black Widow, The Handmaid’s Tale, NW), Maxxx centres around a formerly famous boyband star who tries to make his music come back in a bid to win back his famous supermodel ex-girlfriend Jourdan Dunn and prove to the world that he isn’t a washed-up old has-been! To get his career back on track Maxxx enlists the help of his cousin-slash-superfan-slash-stalker Rose (Helen Monks – Raised by Wolves, Upstart Crow), and tries to convince his former manager Don Wild (Christopher Meloni –The Handmaid’s Tale, Oz) to take him back. But Don has other ideas and recruits the help of wannabe manager Tamzin (Pippa Bennett- Warner – MotherFatherSon, Harlots). Maxxx is also hunted by Lucky (Javone Prince – Phone Shop, The Javone Prince Show) who is Maxxx’s former bandmate.

Justified (Box Set)

Enforcing his own brand of justice, US Marshal Raylan, a strong-willed, quiet law-man haunted by his past, returns to his native town to see that justice is served to those in need.

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