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‘Exciting' new Channel 4 adventure show with huge cash prize and VERY familiar format set to air later this year
IN an era obsessed with Baby Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z, Channel 4 is giving us a TV show that cuts through the generational divides.
This week, at the Edinburgh TV Festival, it is announcing Worlds Apart, a contest where a young and old person are paired up to complete a challenge on the road.
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With more than a whiff of Race Across The World to the format, the teams of two will be sent to Japan, where there is a stronger emphasis on care and respect for the elderly.
And if that wasn't enough of a feat, many of the contestants vying for the £50,000 cash prize will be Brits who have never travelled abroad before.
Channel 4 commissioning editor Genna Gibson said: 'I've seen how generations can feel miles apart, but bring them together and you realise they share more than you think.
'Japan, with its ancient traditions and cutting-edge modern life is the perfect backdrop for their journeys.'
Unsurprisingly, Worlds Apart is being made by South Shore, which was behind Freddie Flintoff 's young cricketers show Field Of Dreams on BBC One, and The Real Marigold Hotel, about veterans going on adventures, for BBC Two.
Both shows endeavoured to shatter stereotypes about young and old.
RO CAN'T RESIST A REVAMP
TOP Boy creator Ronan Bennett is giving World War Two drama Army Of Shadows a bold new twist.
His Channel 4 show was inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 film and Joseph Kessel's seminal book.
Ronan's project was unveiled last night at the Edinburgh TV Festival.
The movie and novel dramatised the emergence of the French Resistance to the Nazi occupation of France.
Ronan has created a new story of how resistance takes shape in a near-future authoritarian Britain.
Under de facto American occupation, a former British army officer builds a covert cell from scratch as young recruits fight to reclaim their country.
Ronan said: 'Democracy is in clear and present danger.
'This is a story about commitment, resistance and defiance in the coming age.'
MOFFAT IN No10 DRAMA
SHERLOCK and Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat is making a drama about life inside the Prime Minister's Downing Street home.
Simply called Number 10, it will delve into what it is like to live in one of the most powerful places on Earth – an old terrace with mice and a lift that never works.
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Channel 4 confirmed it was making the programme as the four-day Edinburgh TV Festival got under way yesterday.
Sue Vertue, executive producer for Hartswood Films, which is creating the show for C4, said: 'We are excited to be working with Channel 4 on Number 10, which is a passion project for Steven.
'He says there are three famous doors in the world; he's done 221B Baker Street and the Tardis – now he's going to do the real one.'
C4 have yet to announce the lead stars, but given the pedigree of Steven and Hartswood, its sure to attract huge names.
GLENN IS STILL KILLING IT
GLENN CLOSE plays a cantankerous killer in new Channel 4 drama Maud next year – having won the part thanks to her bunny-boiler role in film Fatal Attraction.
The 1987 thriller saw her character Alex Forrest terrorise married lawyer Dan (Michael Douglas) after a one-night stand.
Even though almost 40 years have passed, I'm told the film helped her bag the lead in the upcoming six-parter.
Gwawr Lloyd, acting head of drama, at C4 said: 'Maud is a deliciously dark and daring drama and the amazing Glenn Close will bring a thrilling complexity to the role.'
Filming for Maud, which is based on the short stories by Swedish writer Helene Tursten, will take place in London later this year.
GAME SHOW TO RIVAL ALL OTHERS
ITV doesn't appear to be hiding the similarities to Disney+ show Rivals in its teaser image for new game show, Nobody's Fool.
Revealed at the start of the Edinburgh TV Festival, it sees two stars of the Jilly Cooper drama – Emily Atack and Danny Dyer – pose up as hosts.
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And the pair are inside a stately home, just like the one in Rivals where lead character, saucy MP Rupert Campbell-Black, lives.
While Emily looks quite different to her character Sarah Stratton, Danny's moustache and smart attire make him virtually indistinguishable from businessman Freddie Jones.
Commenting on the show, due to air next year, Danny said: 'This is a blinder of a game show.
'Emily and I had a brilliant time making it and, much like the audience at home will be, we were kept guessing right until the very end.'
Emily added: 'It's so exciting to be part of something this fresh.'
Hmm, not entirely fresh though, is it?
