London - 10 October 2018
UKTV has commissioned a new series for its award-winning entertainment channel, Dave. The UKTV Original, Hurricane Man (8x60'), produced by ScreenDog Productions, follows Josh Morgerman, one of the world's leading hurricane chasers. Josh predicts where a storm will hit before racing right into the eye of some of the biggest and most dangerous storms around the globe, including Hurricane Florence, which devastated parts of North Carolina, and Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which battered the Philippines recently.
Josh's passion for hurricanes is matched only by the force and ferocity of the very storms he is chasing. As the destruction and tragic loss of life can prove, getting too close to this kind of weather can be treacherous. Josh and his on-screen team of British producers will give first-hand accounts from the eye of the storm. They have unprecedented access to the human stories, from sheltering families to emergency rescues that unfold around them on the ground, while the storm rages. Altogether creating the ultimate hurricane documentary series.
Josh Morgerman said,
Venturing deep inside the jaws of earth's mightiest storms has been a lifelong, perhaps unhealthy, obsession of mine. I've always hunted solo, but now I have a documentary film crew with me recording every moment of these dangerous expeditions, and that's pretty awesome.
Hurricane Man has been ordered for Dave by UKTV director of commissioning, Richard Watsham and UKTV genre general manager for comedy & entertainment, Steve North. The series is produced by ScreenDog Productions and commissioned by UKTV's senior commissioning editor, Helen Nightingale, who acts as executive producer for UKTV, alongside Ed Kellie for ScreenDog. The series will be distributed by BBC Studios.
UKTV's Helen Nightingale said,
The minute I saw Josh I knew we had an exciting and authentic new expert for Dave. His passion and knowledge for these storms is clear and compelling. His bravery under extreme duress has to be seen to be believed.
ScreenDog's Ed Kellie said,
Josh takes viewers inside storms more powerful than 1000 nuclear bombs, enabling them to experience jaw-dropping stories that the news can't reach, in which ordinary people's survival instincts are truly tested. Alongside the very real human drama, watching Josh chase the eye of the storm is terrifying and entertaining.
Dave channel director, Luke Hales, said,
We know Dave viewers love adventurous characters and they don't come more adventurous than the Hurricane Man. We can't wait for Dave viewers to join Josh and his team on their astonishing travels.
Hurricane Man will TX on Dave next year and will also be available on UKTV Play. It follows the announcement of more brand new UKTV Originals coming to Dave in 2019, including Expedition With Steve Backshall, Hypothetical with Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster, and new series of Yianni: Supercar Customiser, the award-winning Taskmaster, and scripted comedy, Porters.
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Dave Barnsby, Senior Manager, Digital Press Office
Notes to Editors
About Dave
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On demand on UKTV Play | @davechannel
Since bursting onto TV sets in 2007, Dave has been putting in hours at the gym and is now a beefed-up powerhouse of brand new and original commissions from some of the biggest stars and production companies in entertainment. Romesh Ranganthan, Jon Richardson and YouTube sensation Yianni Charalambous are just some of the latest additions to the channel's ever-increasing slate.
Whether it's innovative comedy entertainment like the BAFTA and Emmy-nominated Taskmaster, Unspun with Matt Forde, and Dara o Briain's Go 8 Bit or scripted sitcoms including the worldwide hit Red Dwarf, Zapped, and Porters, Dave's guaranteed to work your funny bone like never before.
Dave's also committed to bringing live sport back to free-to-air and has an ongoing deal to show fights from David Haye's Hayemaker Ringstar venture. There's also Red Bull Soapbox, Cop Car Workshop, Sin City Motors and a whole host of much-loved programming, all shot with Dave's unique personality that's led to the channel reaching 20million adults a month.
About UKTV
UKTV is a commercial broadcaster reaching almost 40m viewers every month.
The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for nearly 10% of the British commercial TV market.
The network delivers inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat, Amazon Fire and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating over 20 years at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Studios and Discovery, Inc. - is proud to be the first British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.
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About ScreenDog Productions
ScreenDog is a new Brighton based Indie set up to make Edgy Adventure and Mischievous Factual programmes for TV and Digital.
We strive against lazy and bland TV and our ambition is to make documentary series and formats that compete with the best dramas and sitcoms. And we draw on skills and persistence gathered from 18 years on the frontline of TV production to make that happen.
About BBC Studios
BBC Studios, a global content company with British creativity at its heart, is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC Group. Formed in April 2018 by the merger of BBC Worldwide and BBC Studios, it spans content financing, development, production, sales, branded services and ancillaries. BBC Studios' award-winning British programmes are internationally recognised across a broad range of genres and specialisms. It has offices in 22 markets globally, including seven production bases in the UK and production bases and partnerships in a further nine countries around the world. The company, which makes 2500 hours of content a year, is a champion for British creativity around the world and a committed partner for the UK's independent sector. BBC Studios has revenue of £1.4bn, and returns around £200m to the BBC Group annually, complementing the BBC's licence fee and enhancing programmes for UK audiences.