Sky TV is gearing up for what its executives describe as a landmark stretch of programming, with an ambitious plan that stretches from 2027 through to 2029.

Speaking ahead of their Spotlight panel at , Radio Times spoke with three of the broadcaster's most important figures: , Managing Director, Programming; , Managing Director, Scripted Originals; and , Executive Director, Unscripted Originals.

What became clear is that while choice is abundant through Sky with their various bundles and plans - which include other streamers and broadcasters - they are also committed to their own distinct original output to try and ensure Sky serves as a destination in its own right for its audience.

We discussed returning series, breakout hits, acquisitions, and some truly original titles on the way for Sky viewers.

Sky’s big plans...

First off, Jamie Morris frames Sky's confidence in its content budgets around the strength of its wider portfolio.

As he puts it, Sky benefits from being "a very diverse business, so we're not simply certified ad revenue," pointing to sports, mobile and broadband as pillars that keep commissioning budgets healthy.

"I think from a Sky customer point of view, there is so much choice," notes Morris. "I think when you look at the public service broadcasters, you know all of those are available on Sky. We bundle Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix. We have an unrivalled sports offering. So, when we look at it from our customers' point of view, we think there's a lot."

Those financial foundations underpin Morris’s next rather bold claim: "2027 is going to be one of our biggest years ever in content," with plans already mapped "to 2029."

That ambition, Morris says, is a direct response to subscriber feedback gathered across 2024 and 2025, when customers made clear they wanted "more originals, more distinct originals, originals that surprise us."

The result is a strategy built around what Morris calls creative risk-taking, citing Kelly Reilly's turn in Welsh-set murder mystery Under Salt Marsh Danny Dyer's caravan park format, and the premium documentary treatment given to Katie Price as evidence of a broadcaster willing to defy expectations facing its own talent and its genres.

Of course, Sky’s television offering also has a long history of acquisitions from the US and beyond, from 24 to The Simpsons, so where do they sit now alongside their own shows?

Morris is candid that "US scripted content is really important" to subscribers, name-checking Peacock's upcoming Friday the 13th prequel produced by A24 and starring Linda Cardellini, and Meghan Fahy and Rose Byrne's thriller , alongside the final season of hit comedy and the second season of .

As if it needed no introduction, he also highlights the pop culture phenomenon , the romantic ice hockey drama that broke out on Canadian streamer Crave, as this year's most talked-about acquisition. Morris frames Sky’s relationship with Crave as one of their "brilliant partnerships."

The second season will also air through Sky and NOW in the UK.

Meanwhile, despite the rather pessimistic tone industry-wide around television made for children, Sky TV argues this programming, too, remains a stated priority.

Sky has "about 155" original kids' titles on the platform, and Morris says the broadcaster is committed and wants to keep investing "in kids' content, and the more British, the better," gleefully pointing to back-to-back BAFTA wins for factual strand as proof of that commitment.

"We think we can give an unrivalled kids’ offering," concludes Morris.

Sky's Original Drama and Comedy want "big characters"

Meanwhile, Lyvers, running scripted originals, enthusiastically resists the idea of chasing trends such as 'cosy crime' in the conventional sense.

Instead, she describes a strategy rooted in audience connection with "big characters, big emotions," ranging from cathartic tragedy to full-on escapism.

Her guiding principle is distinctiveness, with content that "feels singular, unique, that feels like you can't get it somewhere else."

She highlights with sheer passion a recent offering from the broadcaster, , from first-time creator Karla Crome, as the clearest recent example: a story about "a biracial lawyer in Bristol" sent to Jamaica that tips into "bonkers genre horror territory."

Lyvers compares the impact to a genuine rarity - "the last time I saw something like that, and I just stopped in my tracks and watched it was Get Out" - and credits Crome's total authorship of the project as central to its originality.

A similar spirit drove The Death of Bunny Munro, which she calls "a love letter... to [author] Nick Cave," praising BAFTA-nominated Matt Smith and newcomer Rafael Mathé for their "fearless" performances.

"Like our entire slate isn't full of those types of shows," notes Lyvers, "but we feel like it's a great opportunity to drop in one or two where we can."

Elsewhere, Lyvers describes a deliberate blend of the familiar and the surprising.

worked, she argues, because it let audiences in through a recognisable genre — "investigative or murder mystery" — before revealing something stranger underneath, relatable concerns around climate anxiety and community pressure woven into "this incredible tour de force."

Returning favourites

A sequel to Under Salt Marsh is now in the works with creator Claire Oakley and producers Little Door, bringing back Rafe Spall's Detective Bull too.

"So it’ll still have a murder mystery, very specific locale," shares Lyvers. "Something is happening in the community. Very propulsive."

Meanwhile, season two of is also on the way, with a trailer recently released, and continues Ella Purnell's arc as a wallflower turned vigilante, a show Lyvers describes as sitting between "wish-fulfilment, heightened fantasy" and a "familiar genre" crime investigation.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s improvisational comedy will also be making a return, with Lyvers noting: "That'll be a treat for audiences at the end of the year.

"They go up to Scandinavia in search of the Northern Lights, which is really just like the two just having a competition with each other, basically through these stunning locales and eating amazing food that I would like to eat, probably never will."

Also in the world of comedy is the beloved sitcom , which is now shooting its next run with Danny Dyer and Ryan Sampson.

Lyvers noted: "People love Danny [Dyer] and he's so watchable, and he's just a bright spot, but like that show is just joyful, and it's really just fun and entertaining. You want to be with them."

She also offered an update on The Day of the Jackal season 2, which will be back in the Spring following a popular first run with Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne.

"We're in the edit now," Lyvers reveals. "We finally wrapped, so we're cutting season two."

Meanwhile, October's new legal drama , from the prolific George Kay, gets similar treatment: pitched as familiar ("that's a law firm story") but delivering something unexpected once Dominic West and Sienna Miller's divorcing couple collide inside two warring law firms.

Lyvers explains Sky's decision to commission two seasons upfront by pointing to Kay's rare clarity of vision at pitch stage, plus the practical reality that "he can go work on shows elsewhere", making an immediate double order a way of securing his time and delivering the next chapter to audiences faster.

She added: "So it's just a really wonderful, dimensional, complex, layered, fun, surprisingly funny, propulsive, entertaining drama, and we love it because it also, in terms of saying we want to do two seasons right off the bat, we get to build up these characters and see them grow from the first episode of season one, and we're now editing season two and seeing the growth and the continuation of those work families and the personal soap that they bring home from the office into their own lives, that's just a wonderful thing to be able to craft and think about holistically across two season when you're planning like that."

The same logic applied to blockbuster thriller , where creator Matt Charman's long-term plan led Sky to commit to a second season "before we had launched season one."

In terms of other new originals on the way, Lyvers teased the recently announced starring House of Guinness actor Anthony Boyle and Sex Education’s Connor Swindells. The series follows a seducer-for-hire employed to test the fidelity of his wealthy clients’ partners.

"We start shooting like basically now, but it's an incredible, young, twisted way in which you can look at modern dating and love," she noted. "It's set in London. It's from Tom Aspell, who created it. But it's Working Title. Anthony Boyle is in it. Connor Swindells is in it. Sienna Kelly's in it. The cast is bonkers. Elliot Hegarty is directing it."

She added: "We were at the read-through yesterday. It's really, really original and fun and skewering and honest and authentic around just like what dating looks like right now, but turned on its head. It's a very heightened sort of story, but it is quite provocative, so we're excited about that, and we're excited to start shooting that."

Meanwhile, Sky will ambitiously be bringing us a new adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s seminal The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and expect more news on that very soon.

"I would say we're gearing up to start shooting The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," reveals Lyvers, "and so we have some really, really exciting news around castings, director, locations."

And, finally, speaking of edgy figures, Sky will be adapting the novel from comedian Frankie Boyle. Scottish acting legend James McAvoy will front the detecive series - and will very much not be off the screen throughout.

"James McAvoy is in every scene, and he's amazing," comments Lyvers. "And so that feels like just a really original story that we get to tell and support."

Sky Unscripted speaking to audiences who know "when it's not real"

Meanwhile, industry mainstay Phil Edgar-Jones confirms a deliberate pivot at Sky in unscripted commissioning towards not just long-running celebrity panel show hits such as A League of Their Own and but also to "authentic celebrity authored" formats.

Like Morris, Egdar-Jones cites The Dyers’ Caravan Par series, which he says carries real purpose, noting that Danny Dyer "wants to bring back the Great British holiday" while tackling real-world issues such as water pollution in the upcoming season.

He draws a firm distinction between authored projects such as that and documentaries like the Katie Price: Nothing to Hide film, where subjects don't control the narrative: "Nothing's off limits, talk to anybody about me," he recalls Price saying, however.

Phil adds: "With audiences, we really talk about authenticity, talk about character, talk all these things. Audiences really do sniff out when it's not real, and I think we're super mindful of that."

Citing the Katie Price documentary, he notes: "I think it’s possible to make a premium piece out of what you would think of as sort of reality tabloid fodder.”

Edgar-Jones recounts early conversations with legendary producer Lorne Michaels' team "just after COVID," describing SNL as "a house" and Sky's UK edition as "another room in that house," filmed at the British Television Centre with all the legacy in British television and comedy that this entails.

He acknowledges early scepticism, noting: "I used to work with Richard Osman, and he said, ‘What's all this? What do you think it is for sure?’ But he was incredibly supportive. He said, ‘People have got to stop sniffing at this. It's like this is going to be good for comedy. It's going to create the opportunities for comic performers, comic writers, etc. etc.’"

Edgar-Jones adds: "There were a couple of turning points when we announced the cast. People went, ‘Oh, this is interesting. It's not the usual suspects, if you like.’ We were always clear it was going to be new or next-generation talent, if you like. And then when we announced the writers, the comedy community started really getting behind it. So, obviously, you worry about shows when you launch them, but I knew it was going to be good, so I wasn't worried about it. That's the thing, isn't it? You think nobody might watch it, people might hate it, but if you know it's good, that's all you can do, isn't it?"

The switch-up from widespread scepticism was noted by Edgar-Jones, who cited a memorable verdict from The Telegraph calling it "shockingly competent."

Lyvers then adds some colour on transmission night for the premiere, recalling a colleague reading live social reaction that shifted from hostility to grudging enjoyment within a single episode.

Edgar-Jones won't be drawn on which celebrities have been selected from those lining up to take part in the next run, but teases: "Well, you want a range. It's a range.”

The next big launch for the unscripted side of the business has to be the political thriller , which includes participation from veteran politicians such as Nicola Sturgeon, Jim Murphy, Penny Mourdant, and Michael Gove as a "pretend prime minister."

Edgar Jones describes it as a "startling, original piece of television. So, it's based on a Sky News podcast; only we could do it as Sky."

The series takes place in a closed room, and the MOD and intelligence chiefs create scenarios for politicians to be challenged by.

"Yeah, we've created this scenario where there's going to be a Russian invasion," he warns, "and it builds and builds and builds and builds.

"And then we've got proper military chiefs and people from MOD, and we've got all these sort of war gaming scenarios that we throw at them. They don't know what's coming at them, and then they have to sort of deal with it."

He comments enthusiastically: "It's a proper thriller, you know, you do realise that at the heart of all these decisions in government, there are human beings who have to make impossible choices all the time."

Of course, finding such original concepts is not always easy, with many broadcasters and streamers looking for the next version of The Traitors, but this is something that Edgar-Jones wants to avoid.

"We just try to do things that other people aren't doing," he states. "In my position, looking after entertainment, most of the formats that get pitched are basically The Traitors."

"This seems to happen in TV. Someone has a hit, and everyone tries to sort of do their version. We’re just not going to do that. We're trying to do stuff that is distinctively ours, and that surprises and delights an audience."

It was also shared with Radio Times that the upcoming will be hosted by a "double act" of artist Grayson Perry and singer-songwriter and actress Self Esteem.

On Sky Arts, Edgar-Jones says: "It's my little baby, and you know it's one of those things that over the years it's really supported emerging artists and young artists, and the Sky Arts Awards is something that the whole cultural community really gets behind every year and values.

"So I'm very proud of that, very proud of the Sky Arts Channel."

What is Sky’s position on AI?

Finally, when I ask about the never-ending topic of discourse with artificial intelligence in the creative industries, both Edgar-Jones and Lyvers are firm that its role is additive only.

Edgar-Jones says Sky's guidelines require AI to enhance rather than replace craft, pointing to The Wargame's visual effects depicting the sinking of a ship and the bombing of London as sequences the show "couldn't have made without using AI," while stressing every person depicted remains real.

Additionally, Lyvers also echoes this caution, noting that AI cannot replicate tone, and insists that Sky uses the technology selectively: “We don't play in volume, so we get to be very intentional around how we use it. And if it adds, great. If it doesn't, don't need it. We're not being told you have to use this.”

As Edgar-Jones summarises: "It's a creative tool, not a creative replacement."

The Sky Arts Awards will air on Sky Arts and Freeview on Tuesday 13 October 2026. The ceremony will also be available to watch on Sky TV and NOW. You can sign up to NOW from £3.99 a month.

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