TV Company Goes On 'Excellent Adventure'

Tern Belfast has announced the commission of Colin & Graham's Excellent Adventures for BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ.

The series is co-funded by RTÉ and BBC NI and follows TV presenter and sportsman Colin Carroll along with TV host and journalist Graham Little, as they unearth the world's most bizarre and challenging sports while on their travels.

Colin & Graham's Excellent Adventures follows the double act as they experience some of the lesser-known extreme sports from around the globe, while observing cultural oddities and extraordinary people along the way - all from a uniquely comic perspective.

Upon their arrival at these international sporting events, they enter themselves as the Irish Team and compete for the trophy.

The range of world championships that they tackle in the series includes sumo wrestling in Japan, horn-sleighing in Germany and bull-surfing in India.

David Malone, Executive Producer at Tern Belfast, said: "At Tern, we pride ourselves on continually developing new format and producing shows that are relevant and entertaining for viewers. Colin & Graham's Excellent Adventures is a clever spin on the traditional travelogue format and resurrects the genre for a modern audience. This commission demonstrates our savvy at knowing what audiences are looking for and shows that Tern is a major producer of programming out of Northern Ireland."

Justin Binding, Executive Producer of BBC Northern Ireland, said: "We are very upbeat about Colin & Grahams' Excellent Adventures, it is an exciting new project for our innovation strand on BBC Two Northern Ireland.

"The series also presents us with a great opportunity to work with two new talents, Colin Carroll and Graham Little and further our relationship with Tern TV and RTÉ."

Ray McCarthy, Commissioning Editor, Regional Programming, RTÉ Television, said: "RTÉ developed this series specifically for RTÉ Two as in tone and content; the series is spot-on for our viewers who expect innovation and humour to be the guiding principles behind this channel.

"They've got those in spades in this series, adeptly made by Tern. The opportunity to work again with BBC Northern Ireland was very welcome and again a very positive and mutually beneficial experience."

Award-winning UK indie Tern Television recently announced the expansion of its Northern Ireland office, with the appointment of the award-winning producer Malone.

His role is to expand the factual slate and executive produce new series' out of Belfast and his move to Tern followed hot on the heels of the indie's BAFTA-nominated and Prix Italia award-winning film for BBC/RTÉ, The Father The Son and The Housekeeper.

Colin & Graham's Excellent Adventures is directed and produced by Ronan McCloskey.

(KMcA/BMcC)