David Farnor | On 27, May 2020

E4 has ordered a range of new digital shows to keep audiences entertained during lockdown.

Channel 4’s youthful cousin already has a packed linear line-up, including Harley Quinn, Batwoman, Rick and Morty Season 4 and Celebrity Gogglebox US, but is also looking to lighten the mood on YouTube, social media and All 4 with a wave of digital commissions.

Easing the disappointment of all those cancelled comedy gigs is a series of comedy shorts from the homes of favourite comedians called Remote Comedy from The Paddock. E4 will also be talking mental health and mindfulness with the big names in Grime for Grime Therapy, and going back to the heart-warming, technology-free basics of letter writing to follow the stories of four extraordinary young people and two well-known faces, with the short-form show Letters in Lockdown.

Navi Lamba, Digital Commissioning Exec for E4 says: “It’s been so brilliant harnessing all the creativity the lockdown has inspired in our indie partners. We’ve commissioned across a number of genres and a mixture of animation and live action, hearing the stories of real people across the country and those of well-known faces in comedy, music and TV and all are tailored to work best for our young audiences across All 4, YouTube and social media.”

The new digital commissions are:

Remote Comedy from The Paddock

Episodes: 4 x 15 mins
Channels: E4, YouTube and social
From: 9pm, 26th May

Funny people from across the globe will perform a mix of stand up, sketch, character and musical comedy straight from their homes to yours. Including names like Lolly Adefope, Jamie Demetriou, Claudia O’Doherty, Phil Wang, Cat Cohen, Tash Demetriou, Ellie White, Rosie Jones and Sam Campbell.

Grime Therapy

Episodes: 5 x 2 mins
Channels: All 4, YouTube and social
From: TBC

An animated series featuring the UK’s leading Grime stars, talking openly about mental health, and how to cope with it. They’ll draw on personal experience and offer science-based techniques and mental tools to help you deal with things like worry, uncertainty, boredom, loneliness, conflict and anger. Unlike the mindfulness tips out there already, the artists will use their unique flows and beats to deliver these techniques in a way that connects, helps and improves the lives of their fans. In these uncertain times, we want to help you switch off from social media more, sleep better, and feel happier, and these are the people that are going to help you do it.

Letters in Lockdown

Episodes: 6 x 3 mins
Channels: All 4, YouTube and social
From: TBC

As the time apart from loved ones lengthens, what if there was a more meaningful way we could reconnect, whilst miles apart? Not by Whatsapp, Facetime or Zoom, but by taking a cue from our grandparents, with an altogether rarer, more traditional approach – handwritten letters. In Letters in Lockdown, we hear the incredible stories from across the UK, of four young people and two more well-known faces, who’ve been inspired to hand-write a letter of love, pride or apology to someone who means a lot to them. And what of the recipient? How will they respond to this unexpected gesture arriving not in their inbox, but their letter box?

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