Sky

Whatever your view of the result, it was a wretched and dispiriting election campaign. Politicians seldom broke away from churning out the same sound bites, and on social media there was a level of viciousness that was unbearable.

It’s therefore not exactly a surprise that the mainstream media, pressured by parties and harried by online trolls, had a rough ride in the 2019 general election, too. It is difficult, as the proverb goes, to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

The new studio is planned to house the production of multiple TV shows and films simultaneously and will be located in Elstree, close to the home of Star Wars and Strictly Come Dancing, Elstree Studios.

Backed by Sky’s recent new owner Comcast, the new studio will be developed in partnership with sister-company NBCUniversal and Legal & General.

Save Me Too follows the return of estranged father Nelly (Lennie James), seventeen months after his unsuccessful search for his missing daughter Jody.

Challenged to re-evaluate his life decisions, Nelly’s search forced him to take dangerous risks that dragged him into a dark underworld that trafficks kidnapped youngsters including Jody.

Period dramas come in myriad forms. Latterly, few have been as high concept as Jez Butterworth’s bloody and somewhat bewildering saga, Britannia, set roughly 2,000 years ago as the invading Romans attempt to “civilise” an island of warring Celtic tribes.

Co-produced by Sky Atlantic and Amazon Prime Video, the skill of the make-up department alone is worth tuning in for. The prosthetic work done to Mackenzie Crook, who plays druid mystic Veran, is extraordinary.

The six-part series, written and created by Joe Parkham and Joe Markham, follows two best friends, Fran (Perkins) and Jamie (Giedroyc), who only have each other to rely on as they try to move forward in the world.

The only thing is, they kill people for a living which adds a certain element of complication to their lives.

Joe Parkham and Joe Markham commented: “We can’t believe that something which has been knocking around inside our heads for so long has been brought to life by two of the funniest people in the country, along with a load of our other comedy heroes.”

The drama follows strange young misfit Kim (Williams), who was just a child when her father passed away in mysterious circumstances.

Following the tragedy, Kim was whisked off to a secluded setting by her mother Tina (Sian Clifford) and raised with a bizarre set of survival skills.

Now an adult, Kim journeys out into the real world to fulfil a secret mission to honour her father’s memory.

Intergalactic is set in the future where the population of Earth is governed by a global authority, the Commonworld.

The sci-fi series follows spacecraft pilot and rookie cop Ash (Steyn), who’s rising career gets cut short when she is imprisoned for a false crime. Ash will be at the centre of a high-security breakout that will see a gang of female prisoners pursue freedom across the stars.

What a difference two years makes. In 2017, Sky was one of the crown jewels of the vast Murdoch media empire, beloved by investors and publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange. Spool forward to 2019 and Sky is part of Comcast, the US cable conglomerate, which successfully outbid Disney to buy Europe’s biggest pay-TV provider for a staggering $39bn.

The three-year partnership aims to tackle obesity in young people by reaching 90% of UK children through the TV. 

The health and wellbeing initiative hopes to change long-term behaviour towards eating and exercise across all communities.

‘Eat Them to Defeat Them’, an advertising campaign partnership between Veg Power and ITV, aims to increase vegetable consumption among children, of whom 80% do not eat enough.

Catherine The Great

Starts Thursday 3^rd October, Sky Atlantic, 9pm

Powerhouse Helen Mirren takes on the role of longest-ruling female leader of Russia, Catherine II, in new four-part mini-series Catherine The Great.