New Commissions for Crime & Investigation U.K.

LONDON: Crime & Investigation Network (CI) in the U.K. has commissioned eight new HD shows from local production outfits, including four series and four specials.

Living with Murder, set to debut in fall 2009, is a 6×1-hour series that looks at how the families of murder victims have coped with the tragedy they have experienced. The series is produced by Unicorn. The six-part Killer in the Family, from True North Productions, is presented by Laura Richards, a criminal psychologist for Scotland Yard, and looks at a variety of family murders. Title Role’s 5×1-hour Britain’s Biggest Heights will examine some of the biggest robberies of recent times. Nightmare in Suburbia is returning for a second season of six one-hour episodes, from Nine Lives Media. On the specials front, there’s Crocodile Media’s Crime Scene Insects; Below the Radar’s The Wolfman, about a serial killer; Death Row Dates from Athena Films and Fulcrum Television’s tentatively titled Cold Case Rape.

The channel, operated by AETN UK—a joint venture of AETN and BSkyB—launched in the U.K. in July 2006 and by the end of last year tied as the number two factual channel on Sky. The average audience for the first half of 2009 increased by 22 percent over the same time period for 2007 and 2008.