Factual, News and Current Affairs

Channel 5's Factual team is:

Andrew O'Connell, Head of Factual, News and Current Affairs

Michelle Chappell, Commissioning Editor, News, Current Affairs and Documentaries

John Hay, Commissioning Editor, Factual

Kelly Hornsby, Acquisitions Executive, Factual

Andrew oversees all factual, news and current affairs commissioning on Channel5, including the channel's distinctive wildlife and natural history, history, science, engineering and documentary programmes including Paul Merton's travelogues, Royal Navy Caribbean Patrol and The Removal Men.

Michelle commissions daily shows The Wright Stuff, LIVE with Gabby, OK!TV, Channel 5 News, topical documentaries and series including Police Interceptors.

John commissions Extraordinary People, Revealed and other history programming, documentaries and series including Emergency Bikers, Highland Emergency and Royal Navy Submarine Mission.

Kelly oversees acquisitions cross the factual genres and assists with commissions.

What We Are Looking For in Factual and Documentaries...

7.30pm

High Volume commissions and medium length runs skewed towards shared viewing. We’re aiming at soap avoiders here.

All programs must be ad funded for the 7.30pm slot. Examples are: How to take Stunning Pictures, Chinese Food in Minutes, Mexican Food Made Simple, Highland Emergency. Easy to watch technology shows could work here with lots of information take out.

8pm and 9pm

Ambitious documentary series with strong access – e.g. Police Interceptors, Emergency Bikers, Stansted: The Inside Story, The Removal Men.

Wildlife - Obs doc series’ follows animal lovers who are experts in their field such as The Man Who Lives with Bears, Alone with Grizzlies, Sharkman, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf. Also light docs featuring nature and humans co-existing and/or living in strange situations such as There's a Hippo in My House.

Nature Shock Strand – Amazing and unusual tales of wildlife and the natural world, such as The Whale that Ate the Great White or Cannibal Hippos.

Adventure – Travel and adventure series featuring well known talent. E.g.: JLC: Turning Japanese, Extreme Fishing with Robson Green, Paul Merton in China and Paul Merton in India.

History – A modern take on well known events, legends or iconic figures, either series' or one offs. Also looking for interesting ways of getting into contemporary history and skewing younger. E.g.: Battle over Arnhem.

Revealed Strand – Attention grabbing mainstream subjects either series’ or one-offs, featuring iconic, historical figures, and/or stories that haven't been told. We're seeking a large, broad audience here from a wide spectrum of areas from WW2 to Tudors for example.

Extraordinary People Strand – Must feature tales of individuals or groups who live with extraordinary conditions. We’re looking for bigger and better stories with new and fresh subjects which must not have been seen before.

Engineering and Technology – Extraordinary feats of pioneering engineering. Commissions and acquisitions for 8pm. We are looking to move the genre on from Monster Moves and Megastructures and to re-invigorate this genre with specials and 3-4 part series and/or expert/presenter-led explorations. They must be big and extreme.

10pm

Looking for obs-docs here and younger skewing docs/series that appeal to a younger audience. Think out of the box. Example Candy Bar Girls.

Previous Productions in Factual include: (a selection)

JLC: Turning Japanese - Travelogue in Japan presented by Justin Lee Collins.

Emergency Bikers - Obs-docs featuring motorbike based police units and paramedics.

Britain's Secret Schindler: Revealed - The extraordinary story of an English stockbroker, Nicholas Winton, now aged 101 and living in Maidenhead who rescued 669 Czech children from their fate in Nazi death camps.

CSI Ground Zero: Revealed - This is the untold story of those who first arrived at the scene of 9/11. With unseen footage and for the first time the crime scene investigators and the medical examiners officers tell their incredible stories of what happened on the day and in the months that followed.

How to Take Stunning Pictures - Presented by Suzie Perry, experts teach members of the public how to take great pictures using a digital camera.

Red Sea Jaws - Quick turnaround one off investigating the events of the fateful shark attacks in Egypt.

Stansted: The Inside Story - With exclusive access to Stansted Airport, we get behind the scenes to see how one of the UK's busiest international airports really works.

Royal Navy: Caribbean Patrol - This year HMS Manchester, a type 42 Destroyer will take on the drug-busting role. Armed with surface guns, helicopters, a unit of highly trained Royal Marine Commandos and snipers it will track down the smugglers and confront them head on.

Older Productions include: (a selection)

Volcanic Ash: Flight of Terror - Dramatic reconstruction of the events of 1985 when a BA flight flew through an ash cloud with almost tragic consequences.

The Show Must Go On - Sir David Jason auditions a number of Amateur Dramatics societies as they perform a one - act play. He will then choose just one group to work with over a number of weeks to perform a funny, dramatic and moving performance in front of an audience and TV cameras.

Eurovision: A Song for Justin! - Justin Lee Collins enters the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ireland. Will he be good enough to go through to the finals and sing in front of millions in the televised competition?

Chinese food in Minutes - Glamorous young chef and best-selling author Ching-He Huang, shows members of the public how to make mouth watering dishes. They attempt to re-create these meals and be crowned of the best Chinese chef.

Nigel Marven's Panda week - Presenter Nigel Marven heads to China to get close to the giant panda and the amazing creatures that they share the forest with.

Impaled:The Day I Nearly Died - Incredible stories of medical operations where massive objects were removed from accident victims. Incredibly they survived to tell the tale.

Tutankhamen: The Mystery Revealed - Modern scientific technology enables us to test DNA of King Tut to uncover amazing and unknown facts about his life and his family.

Extraordinary People: Hayley: An End to Aging - The 4th in a series of touching films following the life of Hayley Okines.

Extraordinary People: 7 New Faces in 7 Days - Follows 7 remarkable reconstructive facial surgery operations.

News and Current Affairs

The News and Current Affairs team is run by Andrew O'Connell and the Commissioning Editor is Michelle Chappell.

This department looks after the daily news shows on Channel 5, which are supplied by Sky News including Channel 5 News. We also run the new nightly news/entertainment magazine show OK! TV and the daily topical discussion show The Wright Stuff and LIVE with Gabby.

We are always looking for great stories, top guests and will pay for real scoops.