RDF Television has scored a ten-part commission for fledgling international network Nat Geo People.
The Secret Life of Four Year Olds producer has been commissioned to produce 10 x 60-minute Undercover Angel.
The series follows some of the world’s wealthiest business people as they go undercover to try and help the lives of underprivileged communities across the globe. However, instead of simply handing out money, they must use their business skills to create lasting change.
The benefactors, which hail from the US, UK, Australia and South Africa, travel to film in countries including Bulgaria, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda.
It marks the first original commission for female-skewing network Nat Geo People. The channel was launched in Australia in 2014 and has been rolled out in 12 languages to 47 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Undercover Angel was commissioned by executive vice president of programming and development Hamish Mykura, president of original programming and production Tim Pastore and National Geographic Global Networks senior vice president of international programming Jules Oldroyd. It is exec produced by RDF’s Dan Barraclough.
Barraclough said that the show taps into a “new spirit of philanthropy”.
“Each benefactor found the initial challenge quite daunting, thrown into the deep end without support systems or PAs to help. But then they were able to build connections with local people and do something quite profound, create legacies that will last well beyond the length of these programmes,” he said.
“Since its inception, Nat Geo People has offered unfiltered, intimate and true stories about compelling people all over the world, so we’re incredibly excited to be stepping up our programming commitment with the channel’s first dedicated series,” added Oldroyd.