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NEW COMMISSION FOR STV PRODUCTIONS: TOUR DE CELEB FOR CHANNEL 5
26 May 2016
It has been announced that STV Productions, the leading content business, is making a thrilling new four part series, Tour De Celeb, for Channel 5.
The brand new reality television format will follow eight celebrities who have just three months to prepare for the toughest physical and mental challenge on TV and in the amateur cycling world, L'Etape du Tour in France. A brutal 146km of endurance cycling through the French Alps, from Megeve to Morzine, L'Etape is the ultimate racing cycling challenge and the third largest participatory event in world sport.
STV's Creative Director and the Executive Producer of Tour De Celeb, Dan Korn said:
"We're so pleased to be making this exciting series for Channel 5. I'm positive that viewers will be captivated by the emotional and physical journey that our celebrities will take as they train and ultimately tackle L'Etape du Tour in France."
Sporting legends, Austin Healey, Darren Gough and Amy Williams will be joined by stars from the world of entertainment and reality, Louie Spence, Lucy Mecklenburgh, Hugo Taylor, Jodie Kidd and Angellica Bell, as they embark on an arduous training regime to prepare them physically and mentally for the strenuous task ahead.
Tour De Celeb is funded by Skoda UK. The series is executive produced by Dan Korn, produced by Stephen Lovelock, and commissioned by Ninder Billing, Commissioning Editor - Factual, for Channel 5.
The news follows the announcement last month that STV Productions has been commissioned by Sky to make a second series of the successful Prison: First & Last 24 Hours which will air later this year.
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For further information, please contact the STV press office:-
Richard Holligan
0141 300 3416
richard.holligan@stv.tv
About STV Productions
STV Productions is one of the UK's leading content businesses with ambitious plans for growth both domestically and internationally.
The company has a record of success across a range of genres including drama, entertainment and factual for a wide range of broadcasters. Ratings winner Antiques Road Trip has run for twelve series on the BBC, with a further five series of sister programme Celebrity Antiques Road Trip also produced. In entertainment, the company produces Catchphrase for ITV, Safeword for ITV2, The Link for BBC Daytime and The Lie for STV, TV3 in Ireland and S4C in Wales.
Specialist factual successes have included Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered for BBC1 and Swallowed By The Sea - Ancient Egypt's Greatest Lost City for BBC2. Documentaries have been another strong growth area. Fire in the Night, a feature documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster, won a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Single Documentary and the Audience Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Since then we have produced The Lockerbie Bombing for the Smithsonian Channel in the US and ITV, The 7/7 Bombing: Survivors' Stories for ITV, Rollermania for BBC Scotland and BBC4, Prison: First and Last 24 hours, an 8 hour series for Sky1, Dunblane: Our Story for BBC2, Life After: Chernobyl for Animal Planet and The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner, a documentary for BBC Scotland, BBC Four and Smithsonian Channel.
STV Productions has a track record of producing quality returnable drama series including Taggart and Rebus and intends to build on this solid reputation. In the last five years it has produced Fast Freddie and The Poison Tree, both for ITV. It currently has script commissions from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
STV Productions has a partnership with Red Arrow International which co-invests in and co-develops projects as well as distributing STV Productions' completed programmes and formats, outside the UK.
In August 2015, STV Productions entered a strategic development partnership with Group M Entertainment Ltd to create new entertainment, factual and drama projects for the UK and international markets.