Prime Video Orders Two New U.K. Originals

Prime Video has added two new true-crime documentaries from the U.K. to its growing slate, including The Greatest Show Never Made.

The Greatest Show Never Made reveals how, on a wet morning in June 2002, four cameras filmed 30 contestants who had traveled to South East London to take part in what they thought was the biggest reality show on TV. Some quit their jobs and gave up their homes in the hopes of escaping the 9-5 grind, only to find out that the show didn’t exist.

Across five days, the group tried to turn disaster into triumph. The two-part series will be produced by Factual Fiction, with executive producers Emily Dalton and Jonathan Smith and producer/director Ashley Francis-Roy.

Prime Video also commissioned Fake Sheikh from Voltage TV, which tells the story of maverick reporter Mazher Mahmood, whose exposés generated headlines by his use of false identities to ensnare royals, sports stars, politicians, celebrities and members of the public. The series will track his rise to the highest ranks of the tabloid press and his subsequent downfall and imprisonment. It is being directed by Ceri Isfryn and executive produced by Sanjay Singhal and Jonathan Smith.

“Original documentary storytelling is a key part of our growing U.K. slate, from nail-biting sport to intriguing whodunits and stranger-than-fiction history,” said Dan Grabiner, head of U.K. originals at Amazon Studios. “We’re excited to be working with tremendously talented filmmakers, both new directors and legends of the genre, to bring these remarkable human stories to a global audience.”

The new commissions will sit alongside The Confession, a documentary from ITN Productions, and Three Mothers (w.t.), a three-part series from Scottish independent production company Firecrest Films. The Confession examines the disappearance of British housewife Patricia Hall, who vanished from the small Yorkshire town of Pudsey. After only a year, her husband fell in love with a stranger, and the terrible truth about his wife’s disappearance came to light. Three Mothers, meanwhile, explores the story of Alan and Judith Kilshaw, who adopted two baby girls in 2000 from the U.S. and brought them home to Wales, where stories emerged that they had bought the babies online for £8,000 ($9,400). An American couple claimed the babies had been kidnapped from their home in California, and then the birth mother entered the story to claim the babies back.

“The Confession is a gripping story with astonishing twists,” said Ian Rumsey, managing director of television at ITN Productions. “It looks at police ethics, the justice system and the impact of this shocking case on everyone involved. We’re proud to be working with Prime Video and Amazon Studios to bring it to the screen.”

“Throughout The Confession’s twists and turns, you are never quite sure who to trust or what to believe,” added Nathaniel Lippiett, executive producer at ITN Productions. “Across the series, we hear from all sides, so audiences can make up their own minds about what happened to Patricia Hall.”

Of Three Mothers, Nicole Kleeman, managing director at Firecrest Films, said, “This was a staggering story at the time and remains so today. For the first time, all three mothers reflect on the impact of these events, telling an extraordinary story about motherhood, the wild west infancy of the internet when anything was possible and what it feels like to be a woman in the biggest media storm of the new century.”

All four documentary programs will launch on Prime Video within the next year.