Graham Norton, Richard Hammond Set for BBC America Originals

NEW YORK: Two original series have been greenlit for BBC America, one featuring Graham Norton and another with Richard Hammond, along with an initial slate of unscripted development projects.

Would You Rather with Graham Norton (working title) is a 13×30-minute original comedy game show. Shot in New York and produced by So Television, the show will test the wits of some of the top U.S. comics. The series will premiere later this year as part of the recently launched Ministry of Laughs comedy block.

Top Gear‘s Richard Hammond is set to host the new original Hard Drive with Richard Hammond (working title). The 6×1-hour show is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions and is based on the BBC format World’s Toughest Driving Tests. It features Hammond traveling the U.S. and competing with local experts driving some of the country’s toughest vehicles.

Another Top Gear presenter, James May, is on board for the BBC America pilot James May’s Man Lab U.S. The show is produced by Plum Pictures and is based on May’s hit British format of the same name. In the U.S. version, May comes to America and teams up with an American sidekick to help rediscover what "being a man" is all about.

From Reveille, the tentatively titled AUTO Biography looks at the history of vintage cars. The show traces a vehicle’s family tree and meets the previous owners, while along the way the car is being restored and refurbished. The restored vehicle will be reunited with one unsuspecting previous owner.

Also on the development roster, Battlemodo, produced by True Entertainment in association with Gawker Media and its tech site Gizmodo.com, takes Gizmodo’s recommendation and testing techniques into the real world with battles between two cutting-edge products to see which is best.

No Kitchen Required watches as four chefs are taken to some of the world’s most remote locations and are challenged to create a meal for the local community. The series is produced by Notional.

BBC America has also ordered a one-hour special/back-door pilot of Shock Therapy from BBC Worldwide Productions and adapted from the BBC format Fat & Fatter. The show’s aim is to help addicted young people by pairing them with an extreme version of themselves to help inspire them to change their lives and habits.

Perry Simon, BBC America’s general manager, commented: “Top Gear, Gordon Ramsay and Graham Norton continue to deliver ratings and strong ad revenue. It makes sense to offer our viewers even more of what they love about the channel by developing compatible original programs featuring some of our biggest stars. But this is just the start. Our development team, Richard De Croce, Rachel Smith and Erin Jontow, is already working on the next raft of titles including BBC America’s first original scripted series.”