Channel 4 Orders Doc Set in Scottish Prison

LONDON: Channel 4 has commissioned The Prison Visit, a tentatively titled single-access documentary from Chalkboard TV.

Set in Scottland’s HMP Low Moss, The Prison Visit tells the inmates’ stories through the people who visit them. The hour-long doc was ordered by Ian Dunkley, Channel 4’s factual entertainment commissioning editor. It will be made by Chalkboard TV, with Mike Benson and Warwick Banks serving as executive producers and Sue McGregor on board as series producer.

Benson, the managing director of Chalkboard, said: “It is brilliant to have full access to a prison visit room. The process has taken over two years of working with the [Scottish Prison Service] and with a producer essentially living in the prison, getting to know the inmates. The stories, inmates and visitors we’ve worked with across the project will challenge people’s perceptions of the human stories behind prison life in the U.K.”

Chalkboard is also producing ITV’s new comedy game show Don’t Ask Me Ask Britain, which is slated to begin airing next month. The live, interactive series asks viewers to vote along on opinion-based topics while a celebrity panel tries to second-guess what the audience at home will answer.