A group of ex-footballers who have been rejected from football clubs have 7 weeks at a unique football academy, giving them the opportunity to train and play games in a bid they maybe scouted for full time professional football again. Presented by Roman Kemp and filmed with multiple camera’s/fix rig, the real challenge for each player is to look a little deeper in themselves than they may have done before. A team of coaches is on hand to help them with their struggles, both on and off the pitch. Leading the coaches is ex-Watford, Stoke and Burnley striker Gifton Noel-Williams. Other high-profile footballers will coach the team too, including England captain Millie Bright and Manchester United legend Bruno Fernandes.
Mohsin Bhattiwho worked on Episode 5 said “I stepped in to do 6 weeks, it was a challenge to pick up stories which needed a lot of work to create an interesting narrative arch for featured players of that episode. Look forward to watching the series with kids!”
All six episodes of Boot Dreams are available now on BBC iPlayer
This four part fly on the wall docuseries delves into the life of Amritpal Singh Dhillon, the self-made superstar known globally as AP Dhillon. He is known for his tracks such as “Brown Munde”, “Insane” and “Excuses”. The series features a combination of Dhillon’s personal accounts and interviews with his close-knit circle of family and friends. It follows his journey from Gurdaspur, a small village in the Punjab, to the mountains of British Columbia, Canada, where he has become a global music sensation and Icon of our time.
Sarjit Bains worked on episode’s 3 and 4. He explained that “As one of the editors working on Amazon Prime’s AP Dhillon documentary, the key challenges included reviewing hundreds of hours of raw footage, identifying the most compelling narrative arcs, seamlessly interweaving visuals and interviews, maintaining pacing and rhythm, and crafting a cohesive story that captured the essence of this iconic Punjabi singer’s meteoric rise to fame. My fluency in Punjabi proved invaluable, enabling me to pick up on subtle linguistic cues and understand cultural references that enriched the storytelling. Our goal was to craft an inspiring narrative that did justice to this talented musician’s journey from anonymity to stardom.” It sounds like a brilliant project.Sarjit went on to say that “It was a privilege to help bring his powerful story to life on screen”.
It’s going to be a popular series with the trailer already having 13 Million views! The series will be available across 240+ countries and territories.
AP Dhillon: First of a Kind will be streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 18th August.
Dan Walker and Helen Skelton in Pennine Road Trip. (Image credit: Channel 5)
This four-part travelogue finds Strictly alumni Dan Walker and Helen Skelton swapping their dancing shoes for hiking boots. They explore Britain’s first long-distance trail, the Pennine Way, travelling from Dan’s home in Sheffield up to Helen’s home in Cumbria. They explore beautiful countryside meeting different communities and business owners and getting stuck into challenging local activities.
Simon Bennett did the Pre-titles and edited the final episode, episode 4. He said that “Dan and Helen were really brilliant and funny together, it was a pleasure to work on the series and the team at Wag TV was great”.
The series starts Tuesday 15th August 9pm on Channel 5.
We Are Newcastle United is one of the most anticipated football documentaries of the year. Narrated by club legend Alan Shearer, this four part access-all-areas series promises to show behind the scenes after the controversial takeover by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. It follows the Magpies’ ongoing 2022/23 season from close quarters, with the club reaching its first cup final in 24 years. It also delves into Newcastle United’s history, explores the club’s unique bond with its passionate supporters and gives a unique insight into how a major Premier League club operates.
Abraham Teweldebrhan who edited episode 4 said that it was a very organised and efficient project. He said “The main challenge we had was how to make board meetings or transfers and marketing interesting and captivating TV. This episode had the running of the club at board level as the A story with the football the as B story. Luckily Newcastle did have an amazing season so we were able to use the success on pitch to bridge to how the club adjusted to success and new expectations at board level!”.
The series premieres Friday 11th August on Amazon Prime.
A new series of the legendary Japanese obstacle course Takeshi’s Castle is being released on Amazon Prime on 30th August.
David Abramsky worked on four episodes which has new commentators, British comedians; Romesh Ranganathan and Tom Davis. Davis and Ranganathan will guide viewers through the hilarious, dramatic, and baffling world of Takeshi’s Castle with their much loved blend of enthusiasm and scepticism. Recapturing the essence of the 90’s mayhem, 100 contestants, the ‘attacking army’ attempt to storm the impenetrable Castle, fighting off guards, devils, and giant foam mushrooms along the way! Only the bravest and luckiest will make it through to take on Takeshi himself, and potentially bank 1 million yen.
Editor David Abramsky speaks very highly of the project “Takeshi’s Castle was such a fun project to work on. There were so many talented funny people on it, from the writers and presenters to the producers and other editors who I worked with closely throughout the edit. I’m not sure I’ve laughed as much on another project. It’s also something I watched and enjoyed as a kid, which always makes something feel more special”.
David explained that “The biggest challenge was also the most fun: finding that sweet spot where you’re celebrating the chaotic nostalgic joy of this unique iconic show, while also picking the right moments to undercut it with Romesh and Tom’s great double-act of scepticism and fanaticism. There’s so many tools in the toolbox: pratfalls, bizarre format points, brilliant writing and great ad-libs. It felt like edit jazz, very free but also totally clear and focussed. From our first notes session, Amazon really encouraged that spirit of experimentation and instinctiveness, which made it even more enjoyable. The most unexpected part of it was the duration of the original shows – some episodes were originally over 60 minutes! So crafting that down to 30-40 minutes of tight, well-scripted dubbed comedy left a lot of space for crafting our own callbacks, running jokes and weird internal logic for each episode”.
Catch Takeshi’s Castle from the 30th August on Amazon Prime. Let those 90’s memories come flooding back!
We are very happy to be sponsoring The Grierson Awards this year and the shortlist has been announced!
It’s been an incredible year for Factions editors and we are very happy to see so many projects that have been shortlisted that our Editors have worked. It really has been a bumper year- well done to all!
Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World / BBC – Episode 1 and 2- Paul Holland
Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 – You Can’t Stop a Riot in the 90s / Netflix – Chris Duveen. Assistant Editor Bahader Mattu
Catching My Rapist is an intimate and powerful feature documentary edited by Tanya Trochoulias. Viewers are taken on a five-year journey highlighting a woman’s remarkable determination to seek justice against the man who raped her. The film follows ‘Sam’, with complete access to her story from revealing her rape, through 18 months in a safe house and botched police investigations, to her discovery of other victims and crucial evidence.
It exposes the wider impact of the accused individual’s actions, revealing the shocking extent of assaults and rapes committed against vulnerable women who sought employment within his agency. The documentary uncovers the mishandling of police investigations and through heart-wrenching interviews and compelling testimonies, it sheds light on the systemic issues and power dynamics that allowed such abuse to persist.
Tanya who edited this emotional documentary said that “While this is a harrowing subject, it was a privilege to tell Sam’s story. She is a true fighter and an inspiration.”
Catching My Rapist will be broadcast on the 17th July on ITV at 10:45 PM. It will also be available on ITVX
Produced by Passion Pictures for BBC Two and PBS, this current affairs documentary delves into the thick of the recent protests and demonstrations in Iran, following the death of a young Iranian woman whilst in police custody. Using gripping footage shot by the citizens on the front lines of these ongoing protests, the doc gives an unprecedented and shocking insight into the political and social situation in Iran, exposing the current regime’s extreme response to the most serious challenge they have faced since the revolution in 1979 and revealing the brutal cruelty they’re displaying to try and control both their people and any journalists from around the world documenting the protests.
Nick Follows was brought in towards the end of the project to help cut stories alongside the main editor Reva Childs. Nick is an experienced editor used to dealing with disturbing footage, but shared that he found the material very dramatic and distressing however he really enjoyed working with the very talented Reva.
Inside the Iranian Uprising will be streaming on PBS and airing on BBC Two tonight at 9pm.
This year marked 30 years of the Sheffield Documentary Festival and wow it was a great one! It was lovely to be back in the wonderful city of Sheffield and the event proved to be an unforgettable experience as always, offering a blend of thought-provoking documentaries and insightful panel discussions.
Katie enjoyed the talk by David Harewood, a renowned actor and documentary filmmaker known for his captivating storytelling. He talked about his career and openly talked about his experience making ‘Psychosis and Me’ which was edited by Charlie Hawryliw. He discussed the role of documentaries in engaging audiences and driving social change.
In between sampling the different Sheffield cafes, Sophie attended ‘Meet the Commissioners: Broadcasters’ session. They talked about the current climate in the industry. Sophie happily reported back that they explained that 2024/2025 are busy as usual with lots of new commissions (phew)! We also learned that audience’s are still loving True Crime documentaries so that’s still a favourite genre with commissioners.
One of our top pics was Raw’s ‘The Deepest Breath’ directed by Laura McGann. The heart of the documentary centres around freediving, a practice that involves diving to great depths on a single breath. While it showcases the remarkable achievements of free divers, it also delves into their personal motivations, fears, and the emotional journey they undergo in pursuit of their passion. It’s visually stunning and emotionally gripping, anticipation builds and it has a real lasting impact. We have been talking about it ever since! It will be coming to Netflix soon.
Another favourite was The Gullspång Miracle directed by Maria Fredriksson. A divine premonition leads two sisters to buy an apartment in the small Swedish town of Gullspång. To their surprise, the seller looks identical to their older sister who died by suicide 30 years earlier. There is some comically awkward situations as the director uncovers a bizarre family story.
We also bumped into Ella Newton who always enjoys coming to Sheffield and recommended two of the films that she watched, Otto Baxter: Not a F*cking Horror Story and White Nanny, Black Child.
Attending the Sheffield Documentary Festival is always informative and useful and of course a lot of fun! We’re already looking forward to next year ☺
Exec Producers: Paul Martin and James Gay-Rees Box to Box for Netflix
Tour De France Unchained is a brand new high-adrenaline and highly-anticipated series, produced by Box to Box Films, the makers of F1: Drive to Survive. It follows eight teams at the 2022 Tour de France, with exclusive behind-the-scenes access. We will discover how the Tour de France represents the ultimate challenge for competing cyclists; with the athletes pushing themselves to their limits.
Charlie Webb who edited one episode of this new series said “ The show is a great insight into the world of professional cycling and the tour itself. One of the things the series does well is to show what the event means to France. The biggest challenge I faced was cutting different languages . Our episode was probably about 85% French so we had to use translators for a lot of it to help edit the interviews and scenes”.
Abraham Teweldebrhan who edited episode three also said a big challenge was the language barrier. The rushes hadn’t been translated so it was a case of working with a translator within the edit. He expressed that “It was interesting to edit with the French language as it flows differently to the English language so I was learning how to work with it”. He also said “ It was fun to edit the drama and create the story, the team were happy with what was made”.
Jayesh said it was ‘A fantastic emotional rollercoaster series to work on! It was particularly interesting to refine the rivalry between teammates Mathieu Van Der Poel and Jasper Philipsen against the backdrop of another challenging stage of the tour.’
It looks like the series is going to be full of drama! Be prepared for crashes, sprints, tears and team cars in the way of the race! Tour De France Unchained will be streaming from 8th June 2023
