IWC Secures Double Commission from Sky Arts

28 February, 2019

IWC, a Banijay Group company, today announces it is set to produce two new unscripted series for Sky Arts’ 2019 transmission slate – Boswell & Johnson’s Scottish Road Trip with Frank Skinner & Denise Mina, and Van Gogh: An Exclusive View – from Tate Britain.

 

In Boswell & Johnson’s Scottish Road Trip, comedian Frank Skinner and best-selling novelist Denise Mina will be recreating the famous Grand Tour of Scotland, which was completed in 1773 by English writer, and creator of the first great English dictionary, Samuel Johnson, and his young Scottish friend, James Boswell. For Skinner, this will be the culmination of a lifetime obsession with Samuel Johnson, and for Denise, an opportunity to explore her fascination with Boswell. Throughout the three one-hour episodes, like the 18th century pair, they will travel around the coast of Scotland taking to carriages, horses and boats to visit extraordinary sites and enjoy the majestic beauty of the Lowlands, Highlands and islands of Scotland. They will discover what has changed, and what has remained the same, since the great 18th century journey.

 

Van Gogh: An Exclusive View – from Tate Britain is a one-off, 60-minute special, which sees IWC collaborating with the Tate and Sky Arts once again following the success of 2018’s Picasso Live from Tate Modern.  Presented by curator and broadcaster Kate Bryan, it will be an access-all-areas look at the Tate’s upcoming Van Gogh exhibition, which will showcase the Dutch artist’s time in Britain.  Throughout the episode, artists and cultural figures will get up close to Van Gogh’s world-renowned masterpieces like Sunflowers and At Eternity’s Gate.

 

Executive Producer Franny Moyle said: “Since I joined IWC less than five years ago, with a brief to build a slate of high-end specialist factual work, we have worked consistently with Sky Arts on a range of bold arts programmes.  These recent commissions are testimony to the channel’s dedication to thoughtful, granular, entertaining, and original approaches to cultural topics and we’re just so pleased to be part of the channel’s journey.”

 

Director of Sky Arts Phil Edgar-Jones said: “When Frank came to us with an idea to recreate the footsteps of Boswell and Johnson I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Exploring Scotland’s cultural heritage is something I have long been obsessed by, and with the tremendous skills of IWC added to the mix this is a beautiful start. That, plus bringing us exclusive access to Tate Britain’s blockbuster Van Gogh show is a glorious double eye and earful for the Sky Arts fan.”

 

Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, commissioned both Boswell & Johnson and Van Gogh: An Exclusive View – from Tate Britain. Barbara Lee is the Commissioning Executive for Boswell & Johnson and Benedetta Pinelli for Van Gogh: An Exclusive View – from Tate Britain. Both will be Executive Produced by Franny Moyle for IWC and distributed globally by Banijay Rights.