Channel 4 picks up Half Ton Dad; Half Ton Teen next

UK broadcaster Channel 4 will air Eyeworks’ Half Ton Dad, the follow up to successful one-off doc Half Ton Mum. The one-off factual show has been filmed and is expected to air later this year.

The first Half Ton show was the most popular doc on Channel 4 for two years when it aired earlier this year, delivering an 18.2% share.

Sander Emmering, Eyeworks International managing director, says several of the broadcasters that picked up the first Half Ton film are now interested in Half Ton Dad.

Broadcasters including Kanal 2 (Estonia), TV3 (Hungary), VTM (Belgium), TV4 (Denmark), TV Norge (Norway), RTL5 (the Netherlands), Kanal 5 (Sweden), TV3 (New Zealand) and Network Nine (Australia) picked up the first show.

Eyeworks Distribution sells the Half Ton… docs and Eyeworks UK produces the shows. It has started work on another film, which will follow a morbidly obese teenager. Half Ton Teen is about to go into production.

The first one-hour shock-doc was popular around the world. It captured the tragic story of American Renee Williams, who at the age of 29 weighed 64 stone (406kg). Half Ton Dad and Half Ton Teen follow the stories of two other patients at the same centre that treated Renee.

"The people in the new shows use the same clinic [as Renee]," explains Emmering. "It’s a very sad story, these people could die from the treatment, but they could also die from their own obesity."