Ordered by Blighty Channel Head, Adrian Wills, and UKTV’s Director of Lifestyle and Factual, Jane Mote, both the film and In The Making special were negotiated by UKTV’s Acquisitions Executive, Emma Sparks. Morris: In the Making will premiere exclusively on Blighty on September 27th at 8pm to coincide with the national release of the film and National Morris Day. The film will transmit on Blighty in 2010.

Starring Sir Derek Jacobi, Naomie Harris and Greg Wise, Morris: A Life with Bells On is being hailed as the next British feel-good blockbuster. The brainchild of Chaz Oldham, writer, producer and star, the mock-documentary style film follows the rise to stardom of Morris dancer Derecq Maximillian Twist (played by Oldham) as he sets out to pioneer a new form of Extreme Morris dancing with his men of Millsham Morris. Ruffling the feathers of Morris traditionalists, Derecq sets his sights on conquering America.

Morris: In the Making 1x23’ follows the team behind the hit film through the trials of making a champagne budget film on beer budget money. From coping with the fickle weather, through casting the best of British actors, to shooting in America and commandeering helicopters, with some exclusive behind the scenes footage and interviews with Lucy Akhurst (Director/Producer) and Charles Thomas Oldham (Writer/Producer/star).  

Adrian Wills, Channel Head Blighty says, “Morris: A Life with Bells On exemplifies everything that Blighty stands for. It is a lovely gentle film that celebrates all that is wonderful about England and I am incredibly proud that we can support its UK launch with the Morris: In the Making documentary and will be giving the film it’s TV premiere in 2010. “

UKTV’s Acquisition Executive, Emma Sparks says, “Morris: A Life with Bells On is a fantastic feel good film with a stellar cast, it’s a quirky delight that is definitely on-brand for Blighty, and I am really pleased to have secured the rights for the feature and for Morris In the Making. UKTV have supported Morris: A Life with Bells On from the beginning and I am proud to say that Blighty are the Media Partners of Morris: A Life with Bells On.’’

There will be exclusive behind-the-scenes content about the film and taster clips from it on our website loveblighty.co.uk and UKTV will be hosting a viral campaign to support the art of Morris dancing.

- ends -

Notes to Editors
About UKTV (www.uktv.co.uk)
Formed in 1997, UKTV is an independent commercial joint venture, between BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and Virgin Media. Attracting  36.5  million viewers each month, the network consists of 10 distinctive channel brands  – Watch, G.O.L.D., Dave, Alibi, Yesterday, Blighty, Eden, Home, Really and Good Food  – offering a broad range of quality programming across entertainment, lifestyle and factual programming. UKTV currently operates 17 broadcast streams when multiplexes (+1s) are taken into account, and 10 highly successful websites.

Promising to creatively connect its audiences with great programming, UKTV’s successful programming strategy combines quality content from the BBC with high profile original commissions and key acquisitions.

All UKTV channels are distributed on Sky and Virgin Media. Dave and Yesterday are also available on Freeview.


For more information on UKTV, please contact:-
Tamsyn Zietsman, Head of Publicity, tamsyn.zietsman@uktv.co.uk/020 7299 6272

For further information relating to the theatrical release of the film please contact:

Rob Deacon
020 7292 6441
rob.deacon@premierpr.com