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Disney+ announces plans for Vogue and Formula 1 documentaries

The commissions were announced at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

Alex Green
Friday 26 August 2022 13:49 EDT
Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful (Ian West/PA)
Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

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Disney+ has announced plans for a range of documentaries including one about 1990s’ fashion featuring insight from Vogue’s editors, and another following the rise of the Brawn F1 team.

The five projects were announced at the Edinburgh TV Festival and were commissioned by Sean Doyle, the streaming service’s director of unscripted content.

In Vogue: The 1990s will feature contributions from Vogue editor-in-chief Dame Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful, editor-in-chief of British Vogue, among many others.

From Vogue Studios and Raw, the series will showcase rare and never-before-seen archives from key figures in the industry and highlight influential figures from the worlds of fashion, music and film.

Dame Anna said: “The 90s was such an exciting and important decade for fashion. It was the period when fashion entered the mainstream – when it became inescapable, culturally relevant and full of iconoclasm and expression and difference.

“The personalities were larger than life too. This series will capture all of that and I’m thrilled it’s coming to Disney+.”

Hollywood star Keanu Reeves will voice a four-part series about Brawn, which has the working title The One Pound Formula 1 Team.

Produced by All3Media independent North One, it will follow the racing team’s rise from underfunded and independent outfit to 2009 world championship winner and feature contributions from British driver Jenson Button and founder Ross Brawn, who led the team to victory.

Reeves, who is conducting the interviews as well as narrating the series, said: “I am honoured to be a part of telling the incredible story of Brawn GP and their remarkable F1 Championship Season in 2009 with those who lived it in this four-part documentary series.

“It has been great to have the support of Disney+ and producing partnership with North One to bring this story to life.”

Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia will shine a light on Camden’s musical heritage in a four-part documentary series.

The film-maker, whose 2015 film Amy told the story of late Camden resident Amy Winehouse, will explore how the small area of north London shaped popular music and produced some of the biggest acts in the world.

Kapadia said: “I’m a born and bred north Londoner and Camden has been a key part of my life; I’ve had all sorts of experiences there: good, great… and edgy.

“This series celebrates an ever-evolving music scene in a unique place which has always been at the forefront of counterculture and has a musical legacy to match anywhere in the world.”

Disney+ has also commissioned Finding Michael, from Shine TV, part of Banijay UK, which will follow Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews’ expedition to Mount Everest in search of his late brother, Michael, who disappeared there in 1999.

Finding Michael will follow Matthews, 34, and mountaineer Nirmal Purja as they face “unexpected and extreme challenges as well as intense time pressures when the weather closes in”.

Writing about the commission on Instagram, the reality TV star said: “In May 1999, my brother Michael Matthews became the youngest Brit at that time to climb Mount Everest, aged just 22.

“Whilst descending from the summit his life was lost. I was aged 10 and for a long while afterwards believed in a youthful way that I would see him again.

“During recent years the question of whether or not Mike could be found and brought home to our family was often on my mind. I became uncomfortable with the thought of him being left up there, possibly in plain sight.”

He said the series would be “a strong and powerful story of brotherly love”.

He added: “This has been the most meaningful and humbling experience of my own life and it is hoped the film will deliver my brave brother the decent legacy that he earned when so young.”

There is also a documentary about the Wagatha Christie trial featuring exclusive access to Coleen Rooney.

Doyle said: “Our aim was to find brilliant once-in-a-lifetime stories that showcase a wide range of subjects; and these latest projects truly deliver on that promise.

“We’re working with our elite creative partners on this slate, reflecting the UK’s status as an unscripted powerhouse and establishing Disney+ as a destination for unscripted titles.”

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