Sky Studios Takes Stake in Natural-History Producer

Sky Studios has acquired a 24.9-percent stake in True to Nature (TTN), a U.K.-based producer specializing in natural-history programming.

The three-year-old company was founded by Dr. Wendy Darke, former head of the BBC Natural History Unit. Its premium factual slate so far this year includes Expedition with Steve Backshall, a ten-part series currently airing on UKTV’s Dave, as well as Undiscovered Worlds with Steve Backshall on the BBC. Other productions this year include Planet of Volcanoes on PBS, ZDF and ARTE, along with the five-part series Gangs of Lemur Island for Love Nature and Smithsonian Channel.

TTN will retain full creative independence, though will work closely with Sky Studios to develop content for distribution on the Sky platforms.

The investment is the first to be made by Sky Studios, Sky’s new Europe-wide development and production capability.

Gary Davey, CEO of Sky Studios, said: “The content coming out of True to Nature has blown us away. Viewers have never been more interested in the natural world than they are today and all of us at Sky Studios can’t wait to work with Wendy and the team to see what we can create together.”

Darke, founder and CEO of True to Nature, said: “At True to Nature, the natural world is at the heart of everything we do. We want to use storytelling to build lifelong relationships between viewers and the natural world. Our new and exciting creative partnership with Sky Studios feels like the natural next step to continue to realize our ambitions for True to Nature and we’re looking forward to making our dreams, reality.”