What We Are Currently Looking For in 2009

Virgin 1 is a general entertainment freeview channel aimed at an adult (25-54) demographic. The channel sits alongside Living as one of Virgin Media TV’s “power-brands”. Our programming is aimed at shared audience with a subtle male skew.

We want commissions to be at the heart of the Virgin 1 experience. They air in our peak slots, 9pm and 10pm. Their job is to give the channel its personality and its British voice. 

What We Are
Virgin 1 is accessible, aspirational, contemporary, dynamic, broad, witty, charming, fun, British, inquisitive, adventurous, humorous, thrilling-seeking and smart.

What We Are Not
Virgin 1 isn’t Gritty, investigative, formal, educational, hard, blokey, very serious, harsh, worthy, dark and depressing.

What We Are Looking For:
We are currently looking at series for 2009 and 2010.  We’re not looking for singles, although we will occasionally tender for singles around a theme, like our Rude Season.

We commission 6 or 8 x 60 for 9pm and 10pm only.
We’re also looking at introducing some stripped of single events for 2008 and 2009.

Factual Entertainment
We are currently looking for noisy fact ent formats.
We want repeatable, returnable series which will become the mainstays of the schedule. They must be long-running ideas which have a life beyond one run. We want situations which yield great moments of tension and jeopardy, or real humour. A straightforward proposition and a simple narrative are key.
They should feel British, and have a British sensibility and attitude.

We’re looking for ideas which will appeal to a shared audience, are an easy watch, and a treat after a hard day’s work. We’re not looking for ideas which deal with the difficult and dark aspects of life.

We love shows like the Apprentice and Kitchen Nightmares – bold, strong, slickly made, factual entertainment that really appeals to men.

Celebrity Access Documentaries
We’d still love a celebrity access doc series – but they would need to appeal to men without feeling too blokey. We want surprising and entertaining characters – preferably British, but we would consider other talent only if it was amazing!

Observational Docs
We’re quite well served for ob docs at the moment, but we’re still interested in
everyday heroes. We want dangerous environments or tough jobs, which will give us a real sense of escapism and adventure, as well as great characters to admire and enjoy. We want these to be based in the UK as we are already very well served for foreign films and Brits abroad. 

Authored Docs
We would love a series of entertaining, funny authored documentaries that take us into weird and wonderful worlds. In order to punch through, they would need to be more than just curiosities.  We’re looking for an intelligent tabloid view of the world and to reveal people and places that have the power shock and surprise. Probably based in the UK, although we may make an exception for really stellar talent.

The talent for these films is key. They need to be instantly recognisable names who we know can deliver wit and warmth.

Stripped Event
We are looking for stripped event and/or one-off or even a weekend, (could be live) for Autumn or Winter '08 to create a real spike in the schedule.
Think Plastic Surgery Live, Autopsy Live, the live crypt opening on Discovery. None of these are quite right for us but have a scale and an ambition about them that we would like. We need volume and extended reach!  They could be big idea one offs (again live or not), stripped across the week or just big noisy events for one night only (think Honda ad). Or perhaps even something that leads to a series for ’09.
We are looking for 5 x 60' - or we could go for a 1 x 90' if it was absolutely must have - or you tell us what will work for your idea.
We don't want to be too prescriptive about subject matter - but it has to be absolutely stand out. It needs to make a big PR scoop as well as rate. No pressure!!  

Adventure
We’re still looking for entertainment formats around the theme of adventure.
Big, bold programmes which provide us with visual treats and thrills and genuine escapism.

Intelligent Sex
We’re still interested in journalistic, intelligent films about contemporary sex and sexuality.