Channel 4 and E4 have launched the new year with a trio of shiny drama commissions, including a globetrotting comedy drama from the producers of Glue, new scripts from Fresh Meat alumni, and a Netflix collaboration examining isolation in the social media age.

Kiss Me First
Kicking off the new batch is Kiss Me First, a collaboration between Netflix and E4 from Balloon and Kindle Entertainment.

The six-part thriller is from Skins scribe Bryan Elsley and is an adaptation of Lottie Moggach”s YA novel of the same name.

The series, which will premiere on E4 in the UK with Netflix streaming globally outside the country, will feature a mix of live-action and CGI to recreate the virtual world of Agora, a central part of the story which examines loneliness and isolation in the social media age.

Elsley and Melanie Stokes will executive produce with producer Bradley Adams also on board. Filming will take place in 2016.

Loaded
Next comes an English-language version of the Keshet International comedy drama Loaded, originally created by Muli Segev and Assaf Harel.

Co-produced with Polly Leys and Kate Norrish”s Hillbilly Films & Television, the UK adaptation comes from writer Jon Brown (Fresh Meat, Peep Show, Misfits, Babylon) who will also executive produce alongside Leys, Norrish, Segev, Harel, Sara Johnson and Avi Nir.

Loaded centres on four business partners and best mates who become instant multi-millionaires when they sell their start-up videogame company, and the impact on their lives and relationships. It will be delivered to Channel 4 as 8 x 45 episodes with production scheduled for this year.

Foreign Bodies
Rounding off the threesome is an 8 x 45 from Glue and The Enfield Haunting producers Eleven. Foreign Bodies follows a disparate group of travellers on a trip round Asia – a journey which sees each of the gang on very different personal quests as they come to terms with unexpected realisations about themselves and each other.

Eleven founders Joel Wilson and Jamie Campbell will executive produce the show for E4 working from scripts by Tom Basden (Fresh Meat, The Wrong Mans, Plebs). Team writers include James Wood, Tony Roche, Charlie Covell, Tim Key and Johnny Sweet.

Several episodes will be directed by Jonathan Van Tulleken – shooting takes place later this year.

Subscribers to PI can follow all these projects on our site from 15th January – we will return with updates over the coming months.