LionTelevision

Clare Balding's Secrets of a Suffragette

Suffragette Emily Davison threw herself under the king’s horse at the 1913 Derby.  A hundred years on Clare Balding investigates what really happened. Forensic re-examination reveals the truth.

On this Sunday May 26th at 8pm on C4.

Don’t miss it.

21/05/2013

Officially Amazing starts Monday 11th March on CBBC

It scours the globe to bring the biggest, fastest and often weirdest Official World Record attempts, and record holders out there to CBBC.

Hosted by comedian Ben Shires it hurtles from record to record, from continent to continent to witness some of the biggest, smallest, tallest, fastest most officially amazing record attempts in the world.    

Ben meets record breakers from the sublime to the ridiculous, the wacky to the downright incredible: from the woman with the world’s longest nails to the largest snail. He takes part in record attempts like the Fastest chip wrapping, the longest basketball slam dunk, the most women crammed into a Mini, and the most dogs surfing a wave at the same time.

 Each programme also features one of two regular serial record breakers: Sizzlin’ Steve and the Space Cowboy. The Space Cowboy specialises in using his considerable skills to attempt dangerous records such as juggling chainsaws or using a whip to break roses held in Ben’s mouth.

 Sizzlin’ Steve, in contrast, only attempts records he can try with no fear of injury, such as coin stacking or building pyramids with plastic cups – the perfect records to try at home.

Ben is joined in the US by comedian Al Jackson. He travels the States meeting people such as the 12 year old who holds the record for the first skateboard 1080 ( that’s 3 complete rotations in mid-air),  the woman with the World’s longest tongue, and a skateboarding goat!

Haruka Kuroda guides us on a tour of some astonishing people, sights and records in her native Japan.  Where else would you find the Official World Record for the most noodle strings made in one minute, a particularly Japanese art, or a guy called Cherry who attempts the record for the most walnuts cracked with his bottom – yes it’s true, buns of steel.

Adding to the fun are our two 2 animated characters, Officially and Amazing.  They introduce each item with Amazing usually ending up in some sort of trouble.    And each programme brings more record breaking stories to the screen in the form of a comedy song written by Rob Castell.

It’s all packed with action, fun and surprises and is… Officially Amazing.

Lion Television (makers of Horrible Histories) produce the series for CBBC in association with Zodiak Rights and all the records are recorded and verified by Guinness World Records.

http://www.officiallyamazing.tv/

06/03/2013

WCSFP

 The 20^th World Congress of Science and Factual Producers has just concluded successfully in Washington DC.  Joint MD of Lion TV Richard Bradley is stepping down after two years as co-Chairman of the Congress.  The new Chair is Beth Hoppe of PBS.  Lion TV US CEO Tony Tackaberry has now joined the steering committee as a representative of United States Independent Production. The event brings together the worlds leading producers and broadcasters in science, history and specialist factual TV.  Highlights included Sparks of Inspiration from author Stephen Johnson, tech expert David Pogue,  James Garvin - NASA’s Chief Scientist, and science magician Marco Tempest as well as a fascinating ‘TV on Trial’ session.  Next year’s Congress takes place in Montreal.

13/12/2012

Playing It Straight Award Nomination

Playing It Straight has been nominated for a National Reality Television Award in the category of Best Social Experiment. 

The award is decided by the public and you can vote here for us to win.

09/07/2012

East to West

After having aired in Turkey, East to West: Between Two Rivers is currently showing on SBS One in Australia and receiving rave reviews:

"....beautifully constructed, thorough but accessible, full of fascinating detail and employing a range of enthusiastic experts from both sides of the globe to elucidate and engage. First-rate".

-The Sydney Morning Herald

25/06/2012

World Series Of Dating Coming March 2012

World Series Of Dating is a brand new 8 x 30min Lion Television series in production now.

Executively produced from our Scotland office by Andrew Snowball, alongside London executives Simon Welton and Joff Powell, it stars American comedian and actor Rob Riggle and sees dating turned into a competitive sport – complete with all of the sporting conventions that go with it - overblown graphics, music and scripted comedy analysis.

Producers Joff and Simon said: “Working with a contemporary comedy icon like Rob Riggle is an absolute pleasure and we wrote the role with him in mind. Using a cross-genre combination, we have been able to utilise our reality and comedy experience to create a unique entity. BBC3 is the perfect home to celebrate an awkward rite of passage we all go through, with humour and fun.”

World Series Of Dating transmits on BBC3 from March 2012.

Don’t miss it!

29/02/2012

Venice 24/7

Venice Pronto Intervento is a brand new Lion series transmitting on National Geographic Italia now. Granted unprecedented access to Venice's emergency and public services we see behind the 15th century facades to experience the real living city.

We speed along canals with the fire brigade as they struggle to put out fires in a city built on wood. We're with the police on the tail of thieves who pray on carnival tourists and with the paramedics as they face life and death drama.

 UK version 'Venice 24/7' coming soon to BBC4.

17/02/2012

Lion Makes The River Flows West

This 20 part series is being broadcast to great acclaim in Turkey and the international version will be hitting the screens in 2012.

It is an epic and insightful retelling of the story of civilisation – taking a fresh perspective, placing the emphasis on how much of what we call modern civilisation began in the Middle East and then travelled West.

26/01/2012

15 Kids and Counting

A new 3 part series looking at some of the largest families in the UK starts tonight on Channel 4 for 3 weeks.

Tune in.

17/01/2012

Transplant – BBC One

The number of people signing up to be organ donors on the Organ Donor Register went up by 500% as a direct result of the transmission of the programme.

10/01/2012

Horrible Histories wins BAFTA

Horrible Histories scooped the Best Comedy BAFTA  at the 2011 British Academy Children's Awards on Sunday night. A massive congratulations to the whole team.

29/11/2011

Horrible Histories wins Broadcast Digital Award

Horrible Histories has triumphed spectacularly yet again, bringing home a prestigious BDA Award in the category of Best Use of Interactive. The team accepted the award at a glittering Hilton Park Lane ceremony last night.

Congratulations all round.

16/06/2011

Horrible Histories wins RTS Award

Yet more awards for the Horrible Histories team. This time it's an RTS Award in the category of Best Children's Programme.

Keep 'em coming guys.

18/03/2011

Horrible Histories scoops 3 KidScreen Awards

As if all the success at home wasn't enough, Horrible Histories is now garnering international plaudits with another hat trick, this time at the KidScreen Awards in New York. The triumphant categories  were Best Kids Non-Animation or Mixed series, Best Writing and Best Acting. 

Congratulations all round.

08/03/2011

'The Spice Trail' Coming Soon

'The Spice Trail' is a new 3 x 60 series for the BBC produced by Lion Television.

It is the story of the discovery and trade in spices – how the search for spices drove the creation of new trade routes from Europe into the East and what the eventual discovery of the legendary ‘’spiceries" at the far end of the world reveal about colonialism, national pride and international trade, and of smuggling and greed.

The series is part history and part modern-day odyssey as our presenter Kate Humble takes us on the trail of some of the most coveted spices in the world.

Over the series her journey from the UK to Mexico, to Spain and the Middle East, through India and Indonesia to a remote set of islands in the far ends of the earth reveals the gradual and progressive exploration of the world Eastwards in the great age of Western expansion  in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

Watch this space.

03/02/2011

'Scream If You Know The Answer!' : Series 2 Coming Soon

A second series of the hi octane game show Scream If You Know The Answer! is currently in production for UKTV Watch. Ten brand new episodes featuring  celebrity guests including John Barrowman, Louie Spence, Janice Dickinson, Jack Osbourne and Vanilla Ice should be hitting your screens soon.

Watch this space.

25/01/2011

Horrible Histories nominated for British Comedy Award

As if the Horrible Histories mantlepiece isn't crowded enough, the acclaimed series has now been nominated for a British Comedy Award in the category of Best Sketch Show.

Up against industry heavyweights 'Harry and Paul' and 'The Armstrong and Miller Show' it's a real achievement and also the first time the BCA has ever nominated a children's show.

The results will be aired 22nd January live on Channel 4 presented by Jonathon Ross.

Do tune in.

18/01/2011

Horrible Histories nominated for 2011 Broadcast Award!

Horrible Histories has been shortlisted for a Broadcast Award in the category of Best Children’s Programme. The award ceremony is held on Wednesday 2nd February 2011 at the London Grosvenor House Hotel. Fingers crossed.

14/12/2010

More BAFTA Nominations!

Lion Television have been nominated for Independent Production Company of the Year by BAFTA Children's Awards.

The ceremony will be held 28th November - lets keep our fingers crossed.

More information here

15/11/2010

Horrible Histories nominated for 3 BAFTA Children's Awards

The Horrible Histories team are celebrating yet again with the news the hit series has been nominated for 3 BAFTA Children’s Awards. The production team are nominated in the Comedy category, John Howick is nominated in the Performer category and the writing team of Caroline Norris, Giles Pilbrow, Dominic Brigstocke, Laurence Rickard and Jim Howick (Lion TV/Citrus TV/CBBC) are nominated in the Writer category.

Congratulations and good luck!

08/11/2010

Brand new series Edwardian Farm begins Wednesday November 10th

After the success of the critically acclaimed Victorian Farm series, we rejoin Alex Langlands Peter Ginn and Ruth Goodman as they live the lives of Edwardian Farmers for a full calendar year. Over twelve episodes the team are going back to an age that saw the dawn of our modern world – and a time of new and exciting ventures.

01/11/2010

Horrible Histories Wins Award!

Lion’s hugely popular series Horrible Histories has won a Prix Jeunesse Intl 2010 Award in the 7 -11 Non fiction category. 

Congratulations to all the team on their well-deserved victory!

01/07/2010

The Real Battle Of Britain

Coming soon to your screens...

The one-off documentary, The Real Battle Of Britain, will be shown on BBC One this September as part of a wider season to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Second World War air campaign.

Read more

01/07/2010

Horrible Histories

A brand new adventure in the Horrible Histories: Terrible Treasures game has launched on CBBC.

Horrible Histories: Terrible Treasures is an online, immersive experience for children. Their aim is to help the Rat find pieces of a map to some terrible treasure. In each historical environment the children speak to live-action characters, discover horrible facts and play gruesome games.

The Awful Egyptians is the latest episode in the series which also includes the Terrible Tudors and the Rotten Romans. Measly Middle Ages is the next adventure to launch (on 21 June) followed by a final game to draw all the episodes together.

Produced by Lion Interactive in association with Littleloud, the game is a top destination on the CBBC website.

Series two of Horrible Histories has also started airing, and is on CBBC on Tuesdays at 5.15 until July 20.

Play the Horrible Histories game at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/horriblehistories/game.shtml

11/06/2010

Lion Interactive and Modern Masters website

The BBC Modern Masters website is now live at www.bbc.co.uk/modernmasters An IWC multiplatform commission, Lion Interactive worked closely with the production team and digital agency Numiko. The website features a virtual exhibition of the modern masters, curated by presenter Alastair Sooke, plus 10 specially authored Art Walks in cities across Britain, providing an opportunity to see art, sculpture and architecture influenced by these masters first hand. The content is also available on mobile.

02/05/2010

Richard Bradley in C21

Lion Television MD Richard Bradley uses his company's hit CBBC series Horrible Histories as an object lesson in the challenges of making factual programming for a young audience. To read the full article go to:

http://www.c21media.net/features/detail.asp?area=24&article=54900

07/04/2010

Hiorrible Histories Award Nominations

Horrible Histories added to its numerous awards nominations with an RTS nomination for best Children's Programme. It has also been nominated for Europe's most prestigious children's award the Prix Jeunesse. Executive Producer Richard Bradley said, ' After one series, Horrible Histories' unique blend of historical fact and gory, grisly, bloody comedy has clearly made its mark with children and a surprising number of adults. We look forward to laughing ourselves even smarter with series two and three.'

29/03/2010

Lion nominated for 5 Broadcast Awards!

Lion is very excited to be nominated in the following catagories:

Best Documentary Series,
Victorian Farm, Lion Television for BBC Two
Best Popular Factual Programme,
Victorian Farm, Lion Television for BBC Two
Best Daytime Programme,
Homes Under The Hammer, Lion Television for BBC One
Best Children’s Programme,
Horrible Histories, Lion Television for CBBC
Best Independent Production Company,
Lion Television

The awards will be held on 27th January 2010... fingers crossed!

02/12/2009

Cash Cab wins another daytime Emmy

For the second year in a row, Cash Cab has won the Emmy for Best Game Show, beating Jeopardy and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Congratulations to all the Cash Cab team.

You can see the acceptance speech here.

02/09/2009

On Tour With the Queen earns rave reviews

Since the first episode aired on the 10th August, On Tour With the Queen has picked up some high praise:

“Likeable, intelligent and the son of immigrants from the Commonwealth, Kwei-Armah is a good choice as presenter and he approaches his journey with an inquiring mind and understandable relish.” Sunday Times, 09/08/2009

“… (An) entertaining and engagingly bemused travelogue…. Kwei-Armah is an excellent guide, but the real treasures are the archive clips.” Guardian, 08/08/2009 and 10/08/2009

“...Excellent new four-part series…” Times Playlist, 08/08/2009

“This week’s most fascinating new documentary series…” Express, 08/08/2009

“…Fascinating four-part series…” News of the World, 09/08/2009

“This is a charming, insightful series and Kwei-Armah is a delightful presenter who is not afraid to ask tough questions. Channel 4 should fund whatever he wants to do next.” Sunday Times, 23/08/2009

Download pdf (5243kb)

25/08/2009

Horrible Histories game is No.1 on CBBC!

The Horrible Histories Terrible Treasures game produced by Lion Interactive in association with Littleloud received six 5 star votes within an hour of introducing the game to the CBBC Games environment.

The game shot to number 1 position and has been there since. Now with 900+ votes and an average rating of 4.4 out of 5.

You can see the live ratings here (top left is number 1 position).

13/08/2009

CBBC calls for more Horrible Histories

UK children's network CBBC has ordered a second season of its live-action sketch show Horrible Histories.

CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist has ordered a second 13x30' season of Lion Television's factual entertainment show, which is based on the books by Terry Deary and looks at gruesome events and ghastly characters from worldwide history.

The first series debuted this spring on BBC1's CBBC kids block, pulling in a 13.3% audience share of six- to 12-year-olds. It peaked at an 11.8% share when it was repeated on the CBBC digital channel.

Read the article on C21 Media here.

08/07/2009

"Homes Under the Hammer" to move to Scotland

The BBC announced today that production of “Homes under the Hammer”, the property auction television show, is to move to Scotland.

The move is part of the Network Supply Strategy, the BBC’s plan to greatly increase network television production from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

With a commission of 160 programmes over the next three years, the move of the programme team will be phased.

The show will be led from Scotland and the team will include a mix of members of the existing production and Scotland team.

The new episodes will start to TX from mid 2010.

Download pdf (40kb)

12/05/2009

Britain From Above wins International Digital Emmy

Britain From Above has won at the prestigous International Digital Emmy Awards for best nonfiction programme.

Britain From Above took the idea of multiplatform production to new heights: the entire project was commissioned, planned, scripted and shot as one joint television and online project.

Congratulations to all the team.

Check out the award winning website here.

31/03/2009

Hottest Place On Earth - Coming Soon!

Don't miss The Hottest Place On Earth, airing on Thursday the 19th and 26th March at 9pm on BBC One.

A team of experts make the very tough journey to the Danakil Depression, officially the hottest place on earth, to see how its people and animals survive.

16/03/2009

Britain From Above wins award!

Last night Britain From Above picked up a Media Innovation Award.

Congratulations to the team.

13/03/2009

All3Media named top UK independent producer

Midsomer Murders and Richard and Judy producer All3Media has come top in an annual survey of the UK's biggest independent producers, with a turnover of £241.6m.

Founded just five years ago by former ITV executives Steve Morrison, Jules Burns and David Liddiment, All3Media has moved ahead of rivals such as IMG Media and Endemol to become the sector's highest revenue earner and take the so-called "super-indie" crown, according to trade magazine Televisual's annual Production 100 survey...

Read the full article in the Guardian online.

22/08/2008

Britain From Above airs on the BBC

Britain from Above, the major series presented by Andrew Marr, has aired on the BBC.

You can check out the website at bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove.

05/08/2008