Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland has revealed a slate of new and returning commissions for Discovery+ and across linear channels Quest, Really and Food Network, all dropping in 2025. The slate includes productions from Optomen, Shearwater, Bone Soup, Chimp, HCA Entertainment, ITN Productions and Plum Pictures’ new antiques show with Johnny Vegas.
Accounting for 80% of WBD UK & Ireland’s top-performing network series last year, local original productions are the bedrock of the portfolio, with the antiques genre generating significant engagement across the linear portfolio, and continued engagement for true crime stories on Discovery+.
Adding to the ‘vs’ true crime series, which includes Johnny vs Amber: The US Trial, Vardy vs Rooney: The Wagatha Trial and Kim vs Kanye: The Divorce, discovery+ now looks at two of the biggest publicly fought and headline grabbing head-to-head cases of recent years with Baldoni vs Lively: A Hollywood Feud (w/t) and Rubiales vs Hermoso: The World Cup Kiss (w/t).
In the Optomen-produced special Baldoni vs Lively: A Hollywood Feud (w/t) viewers will follow the battle shaking up Hollywood, following the release of blockbuster movie, It Ends With Us. Coming to discovery+ in June, the ‘vs’ special will be a forensic look into the lead-up to the impending court cases between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Moving from the world of film to football, Rubiales vs Hermoso: The World Cup Kiss (w/t) will also drop on discovery+ in July. Produced by Optomen, the 2×60 series looks at the events following the infamous kiss that overshadowed Spain’s win against England in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Following the ‘vs’ format, one episode will hear from Luis Rubiales, the former President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, who earlier this year was found guilty of sexual assault for kissing the team’s standout forward player, Jenni Hermoso. With Rubiales speaking for the first time since the media storm which lead to his resignation in 2023, the first episode will analyse his side of the story. Episode two will see those closest to Hermoso, including teammate Laia Codina, discussing her side of the story and the issue of consent around the moment that Jenni Hermoso says, “stained one of the happiest days of my life.”
New true crime meets blue-light format Inside the Arrest (w/t) has also been commissioned for WBD’s linear network Really. The 8×60 series produced by Shearwater Media, which will air in July, captures the moment of arrest, exercised more than two thousand times a day by British police, in order to investigate or prevent a crime. Each episode will feature two cases using police bodycam footage to analyse some of the most notorious and high-profile arrests of recent years. Cases covered include Gavin Plumb, the stalker of Holly Willoughby; Thomas Cashman who shot nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool; Virginia McCullough, serving life imprisonment for the murders of both her parents; and Norfolk headmaster Gregory Hill’s dramatic reaction to being arrested by mums at the school gates. The arrest is the start point for every story, a high-stakes moment that can be met with anything from violence to defiance, confession to incredulity.
Following the recent announcement of Auction House and Derbyshire Auction House returning for their sixth and second seasons respectively this year, Quest is set to further expand its antiques offering, with British actor and comedian Johnny Vegas fronting brand-new series Johnny Vegas’ Little Shop of Antiques (w/t), coming to the channel in July 2025. Produced by Plum Pictures, the brand-new 8×60 series will see Vegas opening up a new antiques shop in the North West, giving viewers access to a side of the TV personality never seen before. As he investigates, hunts and repairs pieces to add to his collection, he strives to make enough profit in his new shop to turn it into a permanent business. With taste as eclectic as his personality, there will be hilarious disasters, unusual finds and touching moments as he attempts to turn his ramshackle dream into a reality.
Another brand-new format coming to Quest in 2025 is Mike Brewer: The Real Deal (w/t). The 6×60 episodes, produced by Chimp, will follow motoring expert and entrepreneur Mike Brewer and his family as they run their latest dealership, One Automotive, in Leamington Spa. Documenting multiple car flips, the series will also give viewers a glimpse inside Mike and his wife Michelle’s home and family life, and the colleagues who surround them in their car dealing business.
Continuing with British TV personalities in new business ventures, four years after setting up The Smallest Cog, Richard Hammond’s Workshop has cemented itself as one of the top factual titles on discovery+ since launch and will be back for a fifth season in 2025. Produced by Chimp, the 8×60 series will follow Richard and his team as they embark on their classic car restoration projects, with daughter Izzy spending more and more time in the garage dragging it into the 21st century with big social media ambitions. The series drops on discovery+ in October.
Also returning for more in 2025 is Ant Anstead, back on Quest in September for the second season of Ant Anstead: Born Mechanic. In this 8×60 series produced by ITN Productions, fans of series one will see Ant continue to help fund the ongoing renovation of the dilapidated 500-year-old farmhouse he bought for his parents to retire in, with the restoration of eight more crumbling cars in his workshop.
Staying in car lane, Shed and Buried: Classic Cars will also return for its third season on Quest, with Henry Cole and Fuzz Townshend back to their nationwide hunt for sheds full of intriguing classic cars to restore in this 10×60 series produced by HCA Entertainment, airing in late 2025.
From a look behind the wheel to the hidden world of catering and hospitality, Food Network will see Michelin-star Chef Tom Kerridge back on screens in 2025 with 10×30 Tom Kerridge Secrets of the Pub Kitchen from Bone Soup Productions. The second series, airing on Food Network in June, will follow Tom and his team as they welcome guests to The Coach for its ten-year anniversary. Food Network fans can not only enjoy a look behind the workings of Kerridge’s busy kitchen in 2025 but also get exclusive insight into in the inner workings of chef Asma Khan’s famous all-female kitchen at London’s Darjeeling Express in Secrets of the Curry Kitchen, announced earlier this year and coming to Food Network in May.
The series are commissioned by Charlotte Reid, VP Commissioning for Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland. Matt Reid will exec produce for WBD on ‘vs’ and Richard Hammond’s Workshop, Romy Page execs Inside the Arrest and Ant Anstead: Born Mechanic, Rebecca Bayatti execs on Tom Kerridge: Secrets of the Pub Kitchen and Shed and Buried, Deirdre Dowling execs Mike Brewer: The Real Deal, and Rob Holloway execs Johnny Vegas’ Little Shop of Antiques (w/t).
Charlotte Reid said: “We’re excited to announce over 50 hours of content, both bringing back and building on some of our well-loved formats, like ‘vs’, and introducing new talent and new ideas to our platforms. We are delighted to be expanding our motoring portfolio with some of our brilliant turbo talent on returning series, including Richard Hammond, Ant Anstead, Henry Cole and Fuzz Townshend. We also look forward to getting a brand-new insight into Mike Brewer’s car dealing and family life, as well as revealing more cooking secrets with chefs Tom Kerridge and Asma Khan, while welcoming comedian and antiques aficionado Johnny Vegas to the mad world of antiquing in a new series that promises great finds and fun.
This spring will also see previously announced US commission The Curious Case of… format will come to discovery+ and Quest Red in the UK in May. For the first time ever, Quest has been housing MotoGP Sprint races which viewers have been able to enjoy this season starting from March, followed by Giro d’Italia cycling beginning in May. In June, discovery+ will also see a recently announced brand-new documentary, Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds.
Pippa Considine
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