Channel 5 Orders Series on Female Aviator’s Global Flight

LONDON: The U.K.’s Channel 5 has commissioned a three-part series that will see aviator Carol Vorderman attempt to become the ninth woman in history to complete a solo flight around the world.

The tentatively titled Carol’s Incredible Solo Flight Around The World is produced by Arrow Media. Vorderman, who only gained her pilot’s license two years ago, will be flying a Diamond DA42 twin-engine propeller plane affectionately called Mildred, after the female British aviator Mildred Bruce from the 1930s.

Lucy Willis, the commissioning editor for Channel 5, commented: “This series demonstrates a previously unseen side to Carol as she embarks on this incredible and inspiring adventure where she’ll be tested to her absolute limits. It promises to be an exhilarating hybrid of personal journey, extreme challenge and some incredible travel and it shows us that it’s never too late to fulfill your dreams.”

Also commissioned are three shorts exclusive for My5. These themed companion pieces will follow different aspects of Carol’s journey and be available at the same time as the main episodes on My5.

Vorderman said: “My life’s dream has been to be a pilot. I fought to get to Cambridge University as a comprehensive kid on free school meals in the ’70s. I was the first child from my town to get there. My drive was always because I wanted to be a pilot but the RAF wouldn’t train women as pilots back then and we were a poor family so flying lessons were out of the question and my dream was put on hold. Only when I got into my 50s have I had the proper opportunity as a single parent to put everything else on the back burner. I’ve given up a lot of TV, spent the last few years training and passing difficult flying exams and committing to this passion, which builds inside me with every flight. It has been, and will be, a journey with tears and doubts and I still have huge areas of self-doubt and massive inexperience but I am going to push through it step by step. I will do it.”