David Farnor | On 20, Mar 2021

Sky Documentaries will explore sexual exploitation in the modelling industry in a new three-part series.

Building on a long-running and ongoing investigation by journalist Lucy Osborne and The Guardian, the series will reveal how the modelling industry has facilitated and validated endemic abuse for decades.

It will shine a spotlight on the life-changing events experienced by models over decades, revealing not only the behaviours of prominent individuals but also how the allure and practices of the industry were able to facilitate abuse that often saw predators operating in plain sight. The project will interweave powerful personal testimony and archive footage, involving filming in locations in America and Europe.

The series will be produced by an all-female team including Osborne, and is led by a combined unit including executive producers Jacqueline Edenbrow, Samantha Anstiss and Rebecca Templar. Wonderhood Studios and The Guardian had been developing separate projects covering the same subject for many months before coming together last year to collaborate.  
The Sky Original documentary has been commissioned for Sky Documentaries by Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content, Poppy Dixon, Director, Documentaries and Factual. The series is produced in association with Sky Studios, and will air on Sky in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy.

Poppy Dixon, Director, Documentaries & Factual, Sky says: “This series promises to shine a light on practices which have historically gone unchallenged in the fashion industry. I’m honoured to partner with Wonderhood and The Guardian for this important series.”

Osborne says: “I am delighted to be working with such a fantastic team to help tell these women’s stories and finally give the fashion industry its MeToo reckoning. We look forward to creating a series that will also sensitively explore the bigger picture – how abuse is facilitated, how victims are silenced and the lasting impact on women.”

More details will be announced in due course.

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