Sky, The Guardian & Wonderhood Align for Modeling Industry Doc

A new Sky original documentary series will build on a long-running and ongoing investigation by journalist Lucy Osborne and The Guardian about how the modeling industry has facilitated and validated endemic sexual abuse for decades.

Featuring testimony and archive footage, the three-part series will launch on Sky Documentaries in the U.K. and Ireland and on Sky in Germany and Italy. Wonderhood Studios and The Guardian had been developing separate projects covering the same subject before coming together last year to collaborate.  The series is produced in association with Sky Studios.

Not only will the docuseries show the behaviors of prominent individuals, but also how the allure and practices of the industry were able to facilitate abuse that often saw predators operating in plain sight. The series will be produced by an all-female team, including Osborne, and is led by a combined unit including executive producers Jacqueline Edenbrow, Samantha Anstiss and Rebecca Templar.

Poppy Dixon, director of documentaries and factual at Sky, said: “This series promises to shine a light on practices which have historically gone unchallenged in the fashion industry. Sky Documentaries showcases challenging and thought-provoking documentaries, and I’m honored to partner with Wonderhood and The Guardian for this important series.”

Jacqueline Edenbrow, executive producer at Guardian News & Media, said: “Following a committed and long-running special investigation into wrongdoing in the modeling industry we are excited to be working together with Wonderhood Studios to build on Lucy Osborne and The Guardian‘s reporting to create a powerful documentary series.”

Samantha Anstiss, chief creative officer of Wonderhood Studios, said: “We are very pleased to be able to work alongside The Guardian on this series. We’re passionate about collaborating to get the stories of women from across the modeling industry told. This has always been a world of beguiling glamor and opportunity, but as the testimonies of so many survivors reveal, it became a much darker place. We feel privileged to be able to help to get the voices of women heard and hope the series will go some way to effecting change.”

Lucy Osborne, producer and investigative journalist, said: “I am delighted to be working with such a fantastic team to help tell these women’s stories and finally give the fashion industry its MeToo reckoning. We look forward to creating a series that will also sensitively explore the bigger picture—how abuse is facilitated, how victims are silenced and the lasting impact on women.”