Reality

BBC commissions reality show following Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash

A photo of Joe Swash, a white man in his 40s and Stacey Solomon, a white woman in her 30s, smile for the camera with their five children and a dog. They are all wearing clothes with muted colours, and "Stacey & Joe" is written below

Viewers will be welcomed into Pickle Cottage, home not only to the couple, but also their five children, four ducks and two dogs. The kids – or Joe and Stacey’s ‘pickles’ – are aged between one and 16, and looking after all of them is no picnic. Add on top of that hectic work schedules and even more hectic personal projects, like building a two-acre fishing lake, and things only get more intense.

The show will be made by Optomen, the indie behind Stacey’s home decluttering reality show Sort Your Life Out.

BBC acquires intense reality show Made in Korea: The K-Pop Experience

The words "Made In Korea" are written in a graphic of a pink neon sign, above "The K-Pop Experience" in yellow neon. Between the two, there is Korean writing in blue neon signage

Made in Korea: The K-Pop Experience will put the boys through their paces as they take a demanding K-pop training course for 100 days.

Over six episodes, the quintet will be moulded into a boy band, learning from the very best choreographers, songwriters and life coaches working in K-pop today.

The show will feature exclusive behind-closed-doors access to the legendary K-pop agency SM Entertainment, which is collaborating with Kakao Entertainment America on the series. Each week, K-pop expert Hee Jun Yoon will offer notes on the band’s progress.

UKTV to follow the lives of Essex midwives for new reality show

The logo for W, which is a white W against an askew red rectangle, against a white backdrop

The show follows the professional and social lives of the junior midwives in Basildon University Hospital. Thanks to its exclusive access, the programme reveals what it takes to survive in one of the most demanding jobs in the country.

Midwives can qualify after three years, putting them amongst Britain’s youngest medical professionals. The Real Midwives of Essex sheds light on those who have recently qualified, as well as the student midwives, and the people teaching them.

Together, they deal with 12-hour shifts, early starts and nights out.

Meet the 18 entrepreneurs competing to be Lord Sugar’s next Apprentice

Sugar will return to the boardroom alongside Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell MBE. The newly inducted entrepreneurs will be thrown straight into the deep end, going to the Scottish Highlands in episode one to put on corporate “high-end away days.” Across the rest of the series, the teams will be tasked with everything from marketing children’s cereal and virtual escape rooms, as well as some away days of their own - to Jersey and Budapest.

In Conversation with Made in Chelsea

In Conversation with Made in Chelsea welcomes Creative Director of Monkey David Granger, Executive Producer for Monkey Nazleen Karim and on-screen talent Fred Ferrier, Miles Nazaire and Paris Smith.

The panel discuss how it all began, the making of the show and how this has developed, the series’ year-on-year growth along with looking back and celebrating the past 11 years.

Sky Arts launches new series Anyone Can Sing

Together they will transform the voices of six of the UK and Ireland’s worst singers.

Over three months, the ENO’s world class vocal coaches will teach them everything from vocal technique to stage presence and set them various challenges.

Along the way a few famous faces will lend a helping hand.

Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts and Entertainment, said: “If I were to sing to you you’d be covering your ears, running for the hills, begging me to PLEASE STOP.

Why We Love...Reality Television

Reality TV has pretty much always been around, even if it wasn’t called reality back then. In 1964, Granada Television launched its documentary Seven UP, charting the lives of 14 British children to adulthood, and ordinary people’s lives continued to provide subject matter for documentaries such as the BBC’s The Family (1974), Sylvanian Waters (1992) and Airport (1996), plus MTV’s long-running hit The Real World, launching in 1992.

ITV2 orders new cookery dating show Love Bites

Fusing food and dating in an all-new format, Love Bites pits three suitors against each other in order to win a date with a single foodie.

Using the same set of ingredients, the suitors will each cook a three-course meal side by side in the Love Bites kitchen in the hopes of appealing to the singleton’s palate.

The singleton will then have to choose the best chef for a date.

ITV2 commissions new dating series The Cabins

The series will challenge young singles to look beyond their dating apps to find their soulmates, immediately moving in together with their potential partners.

Each couple will stay in their own luxurious log cabins in stunning settings within the UK.

Isolated and intimate, the stage will be set for the singletons to get to know one another, sharing heartfelt moments or suffering awkward silences. All for viewers to see if the sparks fly.

After enjoying or enduring the first 24 hours, the couples will then have to decide to continue or call it a day.