Keshet International (KI) has picked up the international distribution rights to two timely documentaries commissioned for linear TV channels in the UK: Wayne Couzens: Killer in Plain Sight and Ellie Simmonds: My Secret Family, both produced by Flicker Productions for Channel 5 and ITV1 respectively.

Kelly Wright, KI’s MD of Distribution says, “As a team, we are excited to have secured two additional high-quality documentaries from Flicker for our growing factual catalogue of English-language finished tape. These two very different one-offs demonstrate the power of well-crafted factual television to drive change in society, by opening the conversation around difficult subjects such as the abuse of power within the police, and the relationship between adoption and disability.”

Produced by an all-female production team at Flicker Productions, Channel 5’s 1×90’ documentary Wayne Couzens: Killer in Plain Sight explores the failings of the investigation into the serving Met Police Officer who used his position to rape and murder Sarah Everard in 2021.  Using Couzens as a thread, the documentary examines the wider story of sexual violence in the police force, where sexual predators and domestic abusers were hidden in plain sight, to ask if women’s faith in policing can be restored while representing voices of survivors of police sexual violence. Following its strong premiere on 15 June (+43% on Ch5’s average 4.7% share – with a 6.7% share, 1.25 TVR, and 764k viewers), The Times’ Carol Midgley described this one-off as “the sort of documentary that made you want to scream with fury”, before going on to state, “Lucy Osbourne’s cool-headed analysis… should be compulsory viewing for every force”.

Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family is a raw and emotional 1×60’ journey of personal discovery in which the multiple Gold Medal-winning Paralympian reveals that she herself was adopted, while also exploring the relationship between disability and adoption.   Born with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, Ellie decides to track down her own birth mother who gave her up for adoption at only two weeks old.  In this powerfully emotional and moving documentary, Ellie also spends time with families with Disabled children, hears deeply personal stories from Disabled people who tried to find their birth parents, and highlights the pioneering work of social services teams around the UK. Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family premieres in the UK on ITV 1 on 6 July and follows the success of Flicker Productions’ multi-award-winning BBC One documentary featuring the Strictly Come Dancing star, Ellie Simmonds: A World without Dwarfism.

These latest acquisitions by KI bolster a factual catalogue that already includes Flicker Productions’ 38 Minutes to Live, Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism (BBC1), Finding the Cornish Dream (Ch4), Dom Digs In and Dom Does America (both BBC1), Prison Girls: Life Inside S1 & 2 (Ch5); and Reggie Yates Meets World (MTV); alongside Kalel Productions’ investigative doc Undercover: Sexual Harassment – The Truth (Ch4); Monster Entertainment’s investigation into the growth of the far-right movement in Europe, Surrounded by Enemies (Viaplay); WB Productions’ three-part docuseries My Name is Reeva (Mnet); Top Hat Productions’ multi-award-winning feature Surviving 9/11 (BBC1); and 140 hours of Woodcut Media’s World’s Most Evil Killers (Sky Crime).