Sky Commissions Seven New Original Documentaries

Sky has ordered seven new original documentary programs across Sky Documentaries, Sky Nature and Sky Crime.

Among the titles commissioned for Sky Documentaries is Hurst: The First and Only, charting the life of Geoff Hurst, the only player to score a hat trick in a World Cup final. Told by Hurst alongside the likes of Harry Kane and Gary Lineker, the story reveals a life of exhilarating highs and little-known lows.

Also ordered for Sky Documentaries is Spector, a four-part series exploring the life of music producer Phil Spector (behind such hits as “Be My Baby”), who was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson.

The Good Fight Club, meanwhile, follows a young team of mixed martial arts fighters from South East London, trying to shape a brighter future for themselves.

Rounding out Sky Documentaries commissions, Intrusion: Stasi FC uses personal testimony from survivors and an extensive Archie to detail how the Stasi, East Germany’s secret service, abused football to destabilize free speech.

For Sky Nature, Whale with Steve Backshall has been ordered. Building on the success of Shark with Steve Backshall, the new series follows Backshall as he seeks to discover the most iconic yet threatened whales and dolphins across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.

Secret World of Sound (w.t.), meanwhile, uses world-class audio technology to reveal new insights into animal behavior and explore the impact sound plays in the lives and evolution of the animal kingdom.

Fred West: The Glasgow Girls (w.t.), a three-part series coming to Sky Crime, examines West’s three earliest known murders. The series investigates why his criminal tendencies were ignored and how the period in which he lived in Glasgow shaped the serial killer he would become.

All seven titles are currently in production or postproduction and will air in late 2022 and 2023 across Sky and NOW.

Poppy Dixon, Sky’s director of documentaries and factual, said: “From celebrating talented, young, underrepresented voices in an exciting growth sport to asking uneasy questions about one of Britain’s most notorious killers to using cutting-edge technology to listen to the natural world with new ears, we are thrilled to be showcasing such an innovative, thought-provoking and entertaining range of true stories on our factual slate.”