Beyond Rights revealed its spring content slate, introducing a wide range of fresh unscripted content from a variety of different genres, a new kids’ series, and numerous returning seasons of popular and well-established programme brands. In total, the business is launching more than 200 new hours into the international market at this time.

New unscripted content

Leading the new slate is Saved & Remade (15 x 60), a joyous and heart-warming new series, plus format, that capitalises on the current fascination for programming featuring repairs, restorations and authentic skills – but in this case, it has a twist. Created by Red Sky Productions for BBC Two, the series sees a team of hugely skilled crafters take on contributors’ much-loved but neglected treasures. However, instead of returning them to former glories, they set about transforming the items into totally different and often surprising new objects – for example, a piano that’s been in a family for 140 years is creatively transformed into a grand garden water feature.

Impossible Repairs (6 x 60) produced by CMJ / Attraction joins Beyond Rights’ growing catalogue of engineering titles. This fast-paced series follows host Mike Davidson as he goes behind the scenes of some of the world’s biggest repair jobs and most complicated machines on the rails, in the air and out on the water. Countdown to War (3 x 60) from Voltage TV takes a radical new look at the events leading up to the start of WW2 by exploring what Hitler was doing, day-by-day and week-by-week over the preceding 18 months and delving into his mental state. With the help of historians, and looking at events through Hitler’s eyes, new light will be shed on just how this bully, gambler and arch manipulator brought the world to the edge of destruction.

Breakout Productions’ new series follows Australia’s elite team of Sunshine Coast snake catchers as they come face-to-face with all manner of deadly creatures in Aussie Snake Wranglers (16 x 30), while Who’s Afraid of the European Hamster (1 x 60), from Pernel Media, heads to France for a curious, comedic in tone, natural history whodunit featuring a giant, ferocious hamster. In The Deadly Type with Candice Delong (10 x 60), produced by Beyond Productions, former FBI investigator and psychologist Delong looks to identify those behaviours and traits that might point to a killer long before they strike. Meanwhile, award-winning British actress, writer and theatre director Kathy Burke takes an in-depth look at who has money, who doesn’t, and who deserves it in Flicker Productions’ fascinating examination of wealth, Kathy Burke: All Money (2 x 60). Money also rears its head on Billion Pound Cruise (4 x 60), a new obs-doc from Fulwell 73 that goes behind the scenes on Symphony of the Seas, one of the world’s most expensive cruise ships, to meet the crew members working around the clock to keep its 6680 holidaymakers happy.

Beyond Productions’ entertainment format Pooch Perfect was launched last year, alongside the Australian series, and it has already generated a US version, currently in production for ABC with Rebel Wilson as host. This spring, in addition to licensing the format, buyers will have the chance to acquire the 8 x 60 BBC One version of the competitive dog grooming show, hosted by Sheridan Smith.

The slate also features some new takes on popular shows. Raise the Roof’s Love It or List It UK: Brilliant Builds (12 x 60) sees Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer revisit their favourite renovations and deliver new tips and tricks for homeowners, while Love It or List It: Quebec (52 x 60), from Big Coat productions and Zone3, takes us to Canada to meet Quebec-based designer Daniel Corbin and real estate agent Maïka Desnoyers, witnessing as they go head-to head to help couples who have fallen out of love with their properties. MythBusters: There’s Your Problem (20 x 30 / 10 x 60) from Beyond Productions is a new spin-off from the iconic and hugely popular MythBusters series, featuring themed episodes on subjects such as gravity or water, with the very best handpicked myths from depths of the MythBuster archives.

Finally, the unscripted slate features a number of new seasons for long-running, returning series including Abandoned Engineering S6 (12 x 60) from Like a Shot Entertainment, Massive Engineering Mistakes S3 (10 x 60) from BriteSpark FIlms, plus Heavy Rescue: 401 S5 (18 x 60) and Queen of the Oil Patch S2 (8 x 30) – both produced by Great Pacific. There’s also The Guild Garage S5 (12 x 30) from Pixcom International, Carnival Eats S9 (5 x 30) produced by Alibi, Drug Wars S2 (3 x 60) from Vice Studios, Deadly Women S14 (10 x 60) and Love It or List It Australia S4 (10 x 60), both from Beyond Productions, and Walking Britain’s Lost Railways S3 (8 x 60) from Rumpus Media / Motion Content. Rounding out the returning unscripted content is Scandal Made Me Famous and Murder Made Me Famous Revived (11 x 60), a ‘revisit’ series looking at the shocking stories that turned some everyday people into household names.

New kids’ content

The main new kids’ series for spring 2021 is The World According to Grandpa (25 x 11) from Saffron Cherry TV. This vibrant blend of live-action and animation, aimed at children aged three-seven, is built around the tall tales and silly nonsense of Grandpa who, in each episode, whisks one of his four grandchildren away on his sofa into colourful new worlds, answering their questions with outlandish, humorous answers. Meanwhile, for older kids, there’s a second series of Ace My Space (10 x 30), a Tailored Films production offering kids the opportunity to win a complete makeover for their bedroom, with the catch being that they have to allow a friend or family member to take total control of all design decisions.

Connie Hodson, head of partnerships and business development at Beyond Rights comments: “With fresh entertainment, engineering, crime, history, lifestyle and natural history content, this new slate continues to build on Beyond’s existing strengths in unscripted while also allowing us to add to our growing formats offer with Saved & Remade. We are delighted to be bringing such a diverse range of expertly produced new programming to the international market and are proud to be working with so many new producer partners for the first time, including Red Sky Productions, Fulwell 73, Voltage TV, Breakout Productions, Pernel Media and Saffron Cherry TV.”