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Exclusive: BBC Studios has invested in the nascent production outfit co-run by the creator of Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.

The BBC’s commercial arm has taken an undisclosed minority stake in Samphire Films, which was launched by Sophie Leonard and ex-bbc docs commissioner David Hodgkinson last year.

The partnership will see BBC Studios support Samphire’s growth plans for premium documentary and constructed factual brands in the UK and U.S., while taking first-look global distribution and format rights. At launch six months ago, Samphire said it had landed a co-development deal with a major U.S. network, as well as being in funded development on six projects for British and international broadcasters and streamers.

Leonard is a former creative director at Minnow Films, where she worked across hit Channel 4 series Sas: Who Dares Wins and created the American version, Special Forces World’s Toughest Test,...

Exclusive: The events of Mark Zuckerberg’s life and creation of Facebook/Meta are to be charted in a Sky documentary, revealed on an eight-strong slate.

Zuckerberg: King of the Metaverse [working title] will piece together the events of the billionaire’s life along with the creation of his world-shaping website across 90 minutes. The feature from My Daughter’s Killer indie Rogan Productions and director Nick Green will combine rare archive footage and exclusive interviews with those close to Zuckerberg.

Facebook, now Meta, is nearing its 20th anniversary and the BBC greenlit a similar series, simply titled Zuckerberg, around six months ago, from Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse Productions.

The doc has been ordered for the Sky Documentaries channel and sits alongside a number of shows revealed on a hefty factual slate by Deadline this morning.

These include Daley [working title] from Oscar-winner Passion Pictures, providing the definite account of one of Britain’s greatest olympians Daley Thompson,...

Russell T Davies Channel 4/HBO AIDS drama It’s a Sin has continued its awards season domination by picking up six nominations at the Royal Television Society (Rts) Awards.

The show from Red Production Company also has six Broadcasting Press Guild nods and has been recognized by the Rts for Writer (Davies), Actor (Female – Keeley Hawes), Actor (Male – Olly Alexander & Callum Scott Howells), Breakthrough and the coveted Limited Series.

Host broadcaster Channel 4 picked up 28 nominations, with the BBC edging it out with 30, Sky with 10 and ITV with eight.

BBC One, ITV and Sky Arts will compete for the prestigious Rts Channel of the Year award at the March ceremony in London.

Other high-profile nominees include The Serpent’s Tahir Rahim against the two It’s a Sin actors, Stephen’s Sharlene Whyte and In My Skin’s Gabrielle Creevey against Hawes, and Jack Thorne for Help against The Serpent’s Richard Warlow...

The Royal Television Society (Rts) has unveiled the nominees for this year’s Rts Programme Awards.

“It’s a Sin” has scored six nominations, including nods for Keeley Hawes and Olly Alexander (pictured above), while Tahar Rahim has been nominated for his performance in “The Serpent.”

Of the U.K.’s broadcasters, the BBC scored the most noms, boasting 30 across 24 categories, followed by Channel 4, who scored 28, Sky with 10 and ITV who scored 8.

BBC One, ITV and Sky Arts have all been nominated for the Channel of the Year award.

The awards, which will be in-person for the first time in two years, will take place on March 29 in London. Comedian Nish Kumar will host.

“Despite the unprecedented challenges the last two years have presented every single one of us, the sheer talent and amazing professionalism from U.K. creatives both in front of and behind the camera, has truly shone through,...