Channel 4 Commissions The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Channel 4 has commissioned The Woman Who Fell to Earth (w.t.), a true-crime drama-documentary, from Story Films.

The series tells the story of Victoria Cilliers, who, after giving birth to her second child, returns to her favorite hobby, skydiving. After her parachute fails to open, investigators look into the “accident” and uncover the crimes of her husband, revealing affairs, debts, sex clubs, escorts and murderous intent. His controlling behavior gets worse as the court case begins, and Victoria ends up turning against the police and siding with her husband.

Story Films weaves together documentary testimony with verbatim drama and moments that break the fourth wall, taking viewers inside the investigation and revealing the damaging power of coercive control and the extent of its reach. The drama scenes, which feature performances from actors such as MyAnna Buring (The Responder, The Witcher), are juxtaposed with new and exclusive interviews with Victoria and the investigating officers.

BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Guy King (Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story, Superkids: Breaking Away from Care) is series director. Fremantle is distributing the title internationally.

“This is a spell-binding story that captured and shocked the nation,” said Alisa Pomeroy, head of documentaries at Channel 4. “This series will attempt to address some important and thought-provoking questions that arose from this remarkable case. The mix of true-crime and drama-documentary and exclusive access to the investigating officers will shed light on the complexities of abusive and coercive relationships and will no doubt educate and enthrall our viewers.”

Adam Hopkins, executive producer at Story Films, added, “Having survived such an audacious attempt on her life, Victoria had to confront the painful reality that her entire relationship had been based on lies. Director Guy King expertly handles the telling of this multi-layered story, getting beyond the shocking headlines of the case to explore the complexity of coercive control.”