David Farnor | On 17, Dec 2020

A cast of celebrities will be competing in a week-long edition of The Circle in aid of Stand Up To Cancer in 2021 – and now, Channel 4 has announced the stars taking part, including a familiar face from BBC Three’s Drag Race UK.

Baga Chipz, Pete Wicks, Sam Thompson, Duncan James, Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha, Denise van Outen, Rickie Haywood-Williams, Melvin Odoom, Saffron Barker, Lady Leshurr and Charlotte Crosby will be the showbiz veterans moving in to the most talked about apartment block in Britain to take on the game where anyone can be anyone.

Playing the game as double acts controlling one profile are Kaye Adams and Nadia Sawalha, Rickie Haywood-Williams and Melvin Odoom, and Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks. With some of the celebs playing as themselves and others taking on a celebrity catfish persona, this edition of the game will see suspicions heightened and gameplaying galore as the celebs compete for the title of most popular player.

The six-part celebrity series will air early next year ahead of Season 3 of The Circle, which will see a batch of players compete in the game of popularity for a potential £100k prize. Emma Willis returns as host, delivering the players some surprise alerts along the way, and comedian Sophie Willan resumes her role as the voiceover for each episode.

The celebrity series will be in aid of Stand Up to Cancer, a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 that brings the UK together to speed up progress in life-saving research.

Celebrity Circle and The Circle Season 3 were recorded earlier this year in line with Covid-19 filming guidelines.

 

Channel 4 renews The Circle for Season 3 and celebrity special

20th June 2020

Channel 4 has recommissioned The Circle for a third season alongside an additional celebrity series.

The reality format where ‘anyone can be anyone’, created by Studio Lambert and co-produced by Studio Lambert North and Motion Content Group, has proven a huge hit over two seasons, especially among young audiences. In 2019 it was Channel 4’s highest rating 10pm series for 16-34-year-old viewers since 2010 and was one of All 4’s top 10 most viewed titles of the year.

It sees a group of people move into an apartment block where they live in separate apartments and befriend each other using only a social media platform called The Circle. Players rate each other based on whom they like – and dislike. Competing against each other, the most popular players gain power and unpopular players get blocked. Once blocked, and before leaving the show, the eliminated players will get to meet other players in person for the first time.

Host Emma Willis will return, and comedian Sophie Willan will resume her role as the inimitable voiceover in the brand-new third season, which will kick off with a special week-long celebrity edition in 2021, as part of Channel 4’s ongoing Stand Up to Cancer initiative.

Returning to Salford, Greater Manchester, the large-scale production is planned to begin later in 2020 and the search for new players is on. Filming will proceed in line with Covid-19 filming guidelines prompting a change to the format that will see the UK series closely reflect the international versions of the show, which are pre-recorded. Accordingly, there will be no studio audience or live shows.

Nonetheless, the format makes for an ideal lockdown show and, as Netflix continues to push into reality TV with Love Is Blind and Too Hot to Handle and ITV postpones its juggernaut Love Island, the Season 3 renewal highlights the clout The Circle has for Channel 4.

Presenter Emma Willis said: “The Circle is just brilliant, unmissable television. I loved every minute of being a part of it and I’m delighted to be returning to it for another series where I’ll be right at the centre of all the mischief and drama! To add to that, we’re also doing a celeb version – I can’t wait to see who’ll be in the line-up and whether they’ll play as themselves or as another celebrity, it’s going to be incredible.”​
 

Channel 4 logs back into The Circle for Season 2

26th January 2019

Channel 4 is logging back into The Circle this year for a second season of the groundbreaking reality series.

The first season took Big Brother into the modern age, with contestants living in a single building but never meeting face-to-face. They communicated through a special voice-activated social media platform and rated each other frequently. Unpopular players were “blocked” and ultimately, the most popular player won a cash prize. Since they only knew each other through their online dialogue and profiles, players could choose whether to present a true or fictional version of themselves.

“The Circle does find fresh insights into the social media age,” we wrote in our review, “as we see these cut-off individuals deliberately separating their real identities from the persona that they present to others – part of the fun is waiting for 26-year-old Alex (who uses his girlfriend’s photo to pretend to be “Kate”) to be rumbled by someone.

“Edited for maximum humour, and with contestants who don’t take themselves too seriously, the result is a portrait of modern Britain that becomes compellingly accurate: a country where deception is normal, consequences for others aren’t considered, and everything is pushed aside for a chance to get upvotes on a photo of their breakfast.”

The result was Channel 4’s most popular new factual entertainment series for young viewers in 2018, becoming Channel 4’s youngest profiling show since 2012 with an average of 49.4% profile of 16-24s. On All 4, The Circle was the biggest new original commission launch since 2012, with over 10 million views.

The format, created by All3Media’s Studio Lambert, was also a big enough hit to catch Netflix’s attention, with the streaming giant inking a deal for the rights to make localised versions of the gameshow in multiple countries, including the USA.

Now, Channel 4 has confirmed that a second season is on the way. It will see The Circle become more mischievous, with viewers given greater control and increased interactivity with the game. They will be able to influence how the contestants play – leading to “unexpected and surprising consequences”.

Kelly Webb-Lamb, Channel 4 Deputy Director of Programmes and Head of Popular Factual comments: “It was a genuine risk to take on such an innovative new reality format, but The Circle absolutely struck a chord with young viewers who were utterly gripped by the drama and relationships that unfolded on screen – even though the players never met. The second series will have more of what the viewers loved – warmth, humour, more live elements and even more surprises. I’m excited to see how it will build on the success of series one.”

“We were blown away by the love on social media for our entertaining cast and the nightly drama of the show,” adds Studio Lambert creative director, Tim Harcourt. “This year we have some thrilling twists and turns in both our casting and the gameplay. We will also have a weekly live show that offers our audience more chance to engage and make a big impact on the narrative.”

Season 2 will premiere later this year on Channel 4. You can register to apply for the series by visiting www.thecirclecasting.com.

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