Channel 5 hands Rex first commissions for ‘Scandal’ documentaries

L-R: John Major & Edwina Currie. Pic credit: Alamy

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has commissioned four new documentaries from Rex, the factual label recently launched by UK-based Zinc Media Group.

The four 90-minute projects mark the first orders for Rex, which was launched in April and led by Lana Salah, who is known for her work as exec producer on long-running reality series such as SAS: Who Dares Wins, First Dates and Celebrity First Dates.

Scandals, which charts headline-grabbing stories from the UK over the past 30 years, has been commissioned as four standalone documentaries by Channel 5.

Each documentary mixes interviews and dramatic reconstruction, with archive material, episodes include the story of the Neil and Christine Hamilton – recounting the litany of scandals which engulfed them, turning the couple from political power-players to Z list celebrities.

Other instalments follow 1980s TV personality Frank Bough’s rise and fall, as his career came tumbling down, leaving his reputation in tatters following two epic sex scandals; the Jeffrey Archer scandals, culminating in his imprisonment in 2001, and the John Major and Edwina Currie affair in 2002.

Scandals will be executive produced by Lana Salah at Rex, and series edited by Jeremy Daldry. It was commissioned by Kit Morey and Kate Ansell at Channel 5.

“We are delighted to have secured our first commission for Rex, which sits perfectly within the label’s remit to create must-watch, returnable series for the broadest possible audiences,” said Salah.

“At Rex, our goal is to make popular innovative television, as well as work with the best programme makers in the country, so the fact that our first commission is with one of the UK’s biggest broadcasters is incredibly exciting.”