Sky Commissions Seven New Factual Titles

Sky has commissioned four new titles for Sky Documentaries and a series each for Sky Crime, Sky Nature and Sky HISTORY.

Among the four commissions for Sky Documentaries is Red Elvis, which chronicles the story of Dean Reed, an American who defected to the East at the height of the Cold War and went on to achieve superstar status in the Soviet Bloc. The series is slated to premiere in November.

Also coming to Sky Documentaries is The Devil’s Advocate, which unravels the stranger-than-fiction tale of Giovanni di Stefano, who rose to become a notorious criminal lawyer without any legal qualifications. It is set to debut in December. Another doc on the slate is The Billion Dollar Scoundrel (w/t), set to premiere in November, which will investigate the story of Allen Stanford, who conned his way into billions of dollars and used this wealth to lure the English cricket team to a winner-takes-all game against the West Indies team. The last new commission for Sky Documentaries is Hijacked: Flight 73, set to debut in 2022. It tells the story of the terrorist takeover of Pan Am Flight 73.

For Sky Crime, The Angel of Vengeance (w/t) will follow the story of Crystal Hunnisett, who, to some, is guilty of two gruesome murders. To others, she is a victim of abuse and should be acquitted. The series is set to premiere in October.

The Royal Bastards: The Rise of The Tudors (w/t) will be coming to Sky HISTORY in November, and it will feature the true story of one of England’s most powerful but little-known women, Lady Margaret Beaufort. She navigated her way through one of the most turbulent and bloody periods in British history to secure her son as a successor to the throne. The series will star Sheila Atim as Queen Margaret of Anjou and Philip Glenister for the House of York.

The last new title is Chasing the Rains for Sky Nature. The four-part series filmed in 4K UHD focuses on the animal kingdom in Northern Kenya. It will follow as cheetahs, elephants and wild dogs battle against the Kenyan climate to survive. It will hit screens next year.

All new titles will be available on their respective channels, as well as on the streaming service NOW.

Poppy Dixon, director of documentaries and factual at Sky, said: “From profiling famous and infamous characters to unraveling little-known historical events and using innovative technology to explore the natural world, we are proud to bring viewers a diverse range of true stories that will inspire, inform and entertain. We hope to continue our record-breaking year with these new additions to the slate.”