Show of the week: The Heist

Distributor: Endemol Shine International
Producer: Shine TV
Broadcaster: Sky One (UK)
Concept: Eight citizens tipped off about an abandoned treasure must hide it from detectives for two weeks.

Hunted producer Shine TV is back with another factual thriller that needs to be seen to be believed. Set in a small market town in Yorkshire, The Heist involves eight ordinary citizens who have been tipped off about valuable treasure that has been abandoned.

If they can first find the prize and hide it for two weeks from detectives that are determined to track it down, it is theirs to keep.

But as news spreads of the missing treasure and investigators armed with modern technology and old-fashioned sleuthing devices bear down on them, can these citizens outwit everyone, keep their secret and preserve the prize?

We really tried to reinvent non-scripted and thought about what non-scripted and factual entertainment looks like for Sky

Lisa Perrin, CEO of Creative Networks for Endemol Shine Group, says the format “plays to the best of cops and robbers”.

“It is very tense, and all shot like a high-end drama,” she says. “It is based on real things that have happened when people commit a big crime. They move the money straight away, and can’t help spending some of it.”

Perrin notes that the format is a “big show” for Comcast-owned UK pay-TV broadcaster Sky, which is considering box-setting the show – a commonplace strategy for drama, but rarely done for an unscripted show.

“We really tried to reinvent non-scripted and thought about what non-scripted and factual entertainment looks like for Sky. Overall, there is a feeling of increased competition from global SVODs, meaning that broadcasters are looking to take risks like this.”

The show trialed a new filming technique, with much of the footage – which is largely filmed on contestant’s phones – being stored in the cloud, allowing the show to be live-produced.

Endemol Shine has so far placed the format in the Netherlands, and is now looking to secure additional European sales, and a deal in the US. 

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