Diverse is one of the most recognisable and trusted brands in British television. Building on a 25 year track record for quality and craftsmanship, the company delivers innovation and excellence across a broad range of genres.
Recent hit transmissions include returning series Bear Grylls': Men vs. Wild and Born Survivor (featuring Will Ferrell), Beat The Star and The Prisoner. Recently on air: Headshrinkers of the Amazon, Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson, Election, Rocket Science, Think Tank and Hope for the Last Chance Kids (a follow-up to Last Chance Kids part of Channel 4's Lost For Words season of campaigning programmes to get all our kids reading); The Seven Sins of England and Mind Your F*cking Language, Not Cricket: The Captain & The Bookmaker, Britain's Rich List: Give It Away and Codex.
In October 2006 Diverse joined Zodiak Entertainment. As a leading company in the international media industry, Zodiak Entertainment is the group that co-ordinates all De Agostini's activities in the production and distribution of content for television and new media. Since summer 2008, DeAgostini wholly own Zodiak Entertainment.
Zodiak Entertainment is comprised of a perfect blend of more than twenty successful businesses including UK based: Bullseye Productions, Lucky Day Productions and Red House Television.
The Group's Scripted and Unscripted content is sold and distributed by Zodiak Entertainment Distribution (based in London and Paris), boasting a broad spectrum of programmes and offers a diverse catalogue including Drama, Comedy, Animation, Documentary, Lifestyle, Factual, Entertainment, Gameshow, Reality, Kids and Talkshow.
Diverse has not only crossed channels, it also spans oceans with the ratings hit Man v Wild for Discovery Channel (returning for a fourth series); Sacred Voyager (Travel Channel) and Samurai (The History Channel). In April 2006 Shalom in the Home premiered and was the company's first venture into programme making in the USA. Its star, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, dispenses advice to willing families from the back of his kitted out Airstream trailer. Rabbi Shmuley has been named TV’s newest “reality mensch” and the second series of this programme aired on the Discovery Channel.
Diverse's UK regional arm in Bristol, voted one of the Top Ten Regional Indies by Realscreen Magazine, continues to grow and evolve with an array of new and returning commissions, such as the critically lauded series, Tribal Wives in which six British women give up their everyday lives and spend a month living with some of the world's remotest tribes. Series 2 returns this year. Also Beyond Boundaries: Nicaragua - the critically acclaimed series that took disabled adventurers on a staggering journey across continents - returned to BBC2 as Beyond Boundaries: The African Challenge, then Across The Andes: Beyond Boundaries and Beyond Boundaries: Where Are They Now?.
Diverse has a strong reputation for ambitious programming, often challanging widely held preconceptions.
Other Diverse programmes include Mission Africa introduced 15 trainees from the building trade, selected from hundreds of applicants across the UK, to a difficult mission in the African Bush: building a new community conservation area led by Nick Knowles and former major in the SAS, Ken Hames. On the flip side, Ballet Changed My Life: Ballet Hoo, a powerful four part arts series for Channel 4, trained disadvantaged young people to perform with professional dancers on stage in the powerful Macmillan Production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Brits Behind Bars: America's Toughest Jail on Bravo and the celebrity helmed Play It Again on BBC1.
The film clip series Greatest Ever Movies began with the top 100 blockbuster movies of all time, soon followed by comedy, scary, 80s, romantic and disaster.
To add to the succession of factual, gameshow, entertainment, reality and kids commissions, Diverse made a strong entrance into drama documentary. Our Hidden Lives for BBC4 is a dramatic adaptation of Simon Garfield’s book about the Mass Observation Project diarists, telling the tragic story of four individuals after WWII. The Slavery Business: How to Make a Million from Slavery, set in London and the Caribbean during the first half of the 18th century, is based on the true story of slave trader and sugar baron Henry Lascelles, one of the most successful of his time. Both dramas fused historic authenticity with compelling storytelling.
After the War: Conquering Germany takes a dramatic and revealing look at the problems of an occupation 60 years ago in Germany, praised by James Walton of the Daily Telegraph to be a "beautifully structured and gripping piece of television." The touching and powerful three-part series for Channel 4, Priest Idol, takes us through an American Priest’s (and a PR company’s) trials to return the local church to the source of hope for the community. Charismatic theologian Robert Beckford took us on a journey with Who Wrote The Bible? and helped us discover that God Is Black, a two part series which plots the frantic rise of African Christian fundamentalism. Both projects prove Diverse's commitment to finding and nurturing new and exciting onscreen talent.
The features and formats departments have been building rapidly with programmes like The Private Life of Harley Street, an eight part series for the BBC which capitalised on rare access to some of the most exclusive medical practitioners in the world. The critically and internationally acclaimed formats Musicality, and Operatunity garnered Diverse multiple BAFTA, Prix Italia, PACT Indie, RTS and Broadcast Awards, guaranteeing Diverse’s place in the formats and arts race. It wss broadcast in Australia.
Adding to its already impressive awards cabinet, Young Black Farmers received the prestigious 2006 Banff World Television award for best unscripted documentary. The popular Priest Idol was recognised as runner-up in the annual awards for religious TV programmes, run by the Sandford St Martin Trust to promote excellence in religious broadcasting. Creative director Roy Ackerman’s executive produced documentary feature Why We Fight, took the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and Not Cricket: The Basil D'Oliveira Conspiracy won Best Sports Documentary at the Royal Television Society Sports Awards.
Diverse has always had a passion for producing high quality multi-cultural programming. From Leo Regan's BAFTA, RTS and Broadcast Award winning film 100% White, a film detailing the brutal lives of a group of young neo-Nazi skinheads, to the David Matthews polemical, RTS award finalist The Trouble With Black Men; from the Amnesty International and Pact Indie Award nominated The Trials of Henry Kissinger, an intimate look into one of the most famous diplomats of his generation, to the BAFTA nominated Who You Callin' A N*gger?, firebrand journalist Darcus Howe's odyssey into inter-ethnic conflict in the UK, Diverse has over twenty years experience making inspiring and definitive television.
Diverse is committed to making intelligent, stylish and emotionally compelling television, driven by editorial and visual originality.
