WBD UK announces discovery+ commissions
March 28, 2023
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has announced a slate of new and returning shows in the UK & Ireland, which will be released on discovery+ and across its linear networks in 2023 and 2024.
Richard Hammond, together with his team at the Smallest Cog, will be returning to the Workshop for third and fourth seasons of Richard Hammond’s Workshop with a total of 16 hour-long episodes. At the end of last year, the Chimp and Krempelwood-produced show ranked as one of the top titles for new subscriber acquisitions and reach across discovery+ in the UK & Ireland. In the new episodes, the series will see the stakes for the cogs climb higher than ever – in the workshop, on the track and at home. The new seasons feature the Cogs – mechanics Neil Greenhouse, his son Anthony and brother Andrew together with Hammond’s wife Mindy and their two daughters Izzy and Willow. The third season of Richard Hammond’s Workshop will drop on discovery+ in October this year.
Since dropping in the UK & Ireland last summer, 90 Day Fiancé UK produced by CPL Productions, a Seven.One Studios company, has been a hit both in terms of audience reach and discovery+ subscriber acquisition. With season 2 launching on the service later this year, the show has already been commissioned for season 3, promising twelve hour-long episodes full of more stories of long-distance love for July 2024.
The ‘vs’ format also returns with 2 new series delving into the high-profile and very public battles between Kanye West and Kim Kardashian as well as Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez. Each of the series will take audiences through two polarising sides of the stories. Kanye vs Kim will look into a difficult divorce that made international headlines, whilst Megan Thee Stallion vs Tory Lanez will explore the incident which saw Lanez convicted of shooting Megan in the summer of 2020. Both series are produced by Optomen and will drop on discovery+ as two-part hour-long documentaries in the second half of this year.
Faking It series is set to return for a seventh series, with 6×60 episodes bringing a unique lens to some of the most notorious crime stories and investigations of recent years. Dr Cliff Lansley, Professor Dawn Archer and Professor Kerry Daynes will once again use their expertise to examine a range of new case files, including the tragic killing of five-year-old Logan Mwangi, brutally murdered by his mother Angharad Williamson, her partner, John Cole, and his 14-year-old son. The new episodes will premiere on Quest Red in August 2023.
The Killer in My Home: A Deadliest Mums and Dads Special will also premiere on discovery+ in April this year. The Crackit-produced documentary features an exclusive interview with grieving mother Laura Gray, who spent nearly five years believing that she had lost her two infant children, 24-day-old Ruby and 21-month-old Logan, to natural causes. It was years later that she discovered the devastating truth. Both were murdered by her former partner and father to their children, Jordan Monaghan.
As part of WBD’s restoration offering The Great Antiques Challenge, a new 8×60 series produced by Ricochet follows six dealers as they go head to head to find their clients the perfect antique, curio or piece of furniture, to solve a particular problem at a price they are willing to pay. The episodes will air on Really in July 2023.
Fans of The Woodland Workshop can also enjoy a trip to the heart of the New Forest in 2024 as season three sees a team of expert craftspeople hard at work building extraordinary, handmade items. Each of the 12×60 episodes produced by Ricochet will see three people arrive at the Woodland Workshop to ask for a special gift for a deserving friend, neighbour or family member.
Also back for another season is the Air TV-produced Derelict Rescue (10×60). In season 2, viewers will once again join Britain’s most ambitious home builders as they attempt to transform rundown, ramshackle buildings into dream homes bursting with innovation and stunning architecture.
Salvage Hunters loyal followers can also look forward to new seasons and specials of the show in 2023, starting with 20×60 episodes of Salvage Hunters: The Restorers and 5×60 Salvage Hunters: Restoration Specials (w/t) launching on Quest in April. New seasons of the Curve-produced show will air on Quest in September this year.
From September 2023, thrill-seeking viewers will be able to enjoy more of WBD’s paranormal offering with Spooked Ireland coming to Really. Building on the success of Spooked Scotland, the 10×60 Tern-produced series will see Chris Fleming back to investigate chilling crimes, supernatural sightings and terrifying stories – this time in Ireland.
Brand-new paranormal show The Yorkshire Exorcist, will premiere on Really in October this year. The one-hour Special produced by Back2Back shows Ian Lawman conducting exorcisms to clear homes, objects and individuals of evil entities.
Paranormal fans can also look forward to the return of Help! My House is Haunted with season 5. Produced by Back2Back, the 14×60 episodes full of some of the most chilling cases will be premiered on Really in August 2023.
Clare Laycock, SVP, Networks & Digital Content, Warner Bros Discovery UK, said, “With a slate of new commissions for discovery+ and our linear channels, we continue to deepen our rich portfolio of content ensuring we’ve got something for everyone. Warner Bros Discovery UK and Ireland offers entertainment for every member of the family with content ranging from must-see reality, to the most shocking true crime stories and spine-chilling paranormal, through to the world of vintage dealers, restorers and master-crafters. We’re really excited to again work with production companies who have been delivering our most-loved series. Thanks to those great partnerships, our viewers will be able to return to Richard Hammond’s Workshop, be compelled by new 90-day love stories and so much more…”
The series were ordered for WBD UK & Ireland by Clare Laycock, SVP, Content, Networks & Streaming, and commissioned by Charlotte Reid, VP Commissioning.