UKTV

Who's in Taskmaster series 7

If you’ve somehow managed to miss the show, it’s basically the strange thoughts you have in the shower, turned into a competition. ‘How do you make a snow globe?’, ‘From how far away can I blow out a candle’, ‘how high can a hose spray water?’. All the important stuff.

The sixth series has drawn to a close and Tim Vine, Russell Howard, Asim Chaudhry, Alice Levine and Lisa Tarbuck have all hung up their Taskmaster trainers and gone home for a rest. Now it’s the turn of a new bunch of comedians to face Taskmaster Greg Davies and his assistant Alex Horne!

 

Kerry Condon, Nina Sosanya and Eileen Walsh to star in new Sharon Horgan comedy drama for UKTV

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Set in Dublin, Women on the Verge, which is based on the best-selling book Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown by Lorna Martin, tells the darkly comic story of three successful thirty-something friends, who are all at various stages of their lives. Though all three are enterprising and hard-working, they're still concerned that their lives are not going entirely to plan.

Fantasy Homes By The Sea returns to Really

Michelle Ackerley

Each episode will see a pair of house hunters head to the coast in search of their dream home. In this series, the participants will also be shown homes that are let out by their owners, to give them an insight into how much profit they could make on their potential property.

Former Watchdog presenter Michelle Ackerley will follow in the footsteps of Jenni Falconer and Catherine Gee to host the new 20-part series.

UKTV commissions The Ultimate Matchmaker

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The show seeks to give an insight into the world high-class dating, and viewers will be guided by elite matchmaker Lara Asprey and her team as they try to find the perfect match for their clients.

“This exciting new series for W is a funny and heart-warming peek into the extraordinary world of a very exclusive dating agency,”  said commissioning editor Helen Nightingale. She added,  ‘In the year that Prince Harry marries Meghan, don’t we all just yearn for a love story with a fairy tale ending?”

Industry pros discuss the rise of gaming shows at RTS event

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“It feels like there’s a huge lack of respect for gaming; [TV thinks] it’s still nerds in their bedrooms covered in crisps,” added the gaming presenter.
 
Television has had a chequered history with video games. In the 1990s, Channel 4’sGamesMaster became the first UK TV show dedicated to video games. Other shows followed, including CITV’s Bad Influence! and T.I.G.S (Totally Interactive Game Show), and Sky One’sGames World.
 

UKTV’s Zapped and Porters to return this Autumn

Supernatural comedy Zapped sees the return of James Buckley (The Inbetweeners) as unassuming office worker Brian who is transported to a fantastical land named Munty, where magic is real but restricted by a police state. Here he meets wizard Howell (Paul Kaye) and a whole host of magical beings, the third series picks up from the a cliff-hanger ending, with Brian and Howell in dire straits.

Cherry Healey to present cosmetic surgery documentary for W

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The three-part UKTV Original series will focus on the pressure felt by many women to look perfect and the impossibility of modern beauty standards. Over three hours, Healey will examine both her own and other women’s fixations with their bodies and what they perceive as negative attributes.

Healey is best known for her work on light-hearted documentaries for BBC Three, often with a focus on issues to do with health and body image, such as Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time and Cherry Has A Baby.

Anna Paquin to star in new drama Flack

Anna Paquin (Credit: UKTV)

The series is set in the competitive and celebrity-driven world of public relations.

Flack follows Robyn (Paquin), a witty American publicity maven living in London, as she tackles the complexities of the digital age where scandals can go viral in an instant.

 “My character exists in a world where there are no moral absolutes and humour is used as a sharply executed defence mechanism to maintain the illusion of perpetual control,” says Paquin