‘Jack the Ripper,’ ‘Manhunt’ True Crime Documentaries Greenlit at U.K.’s Channel 5

ViacomCBS Networks International-owned U.K. broadcaster Channel 5 is strengthening its factual slate with six new commissions focusing on real-life crime stories.

Vice Studios will produce forensic psychology-led three-part series “Jack the Ripper: The Hidden Victims,” where, from a modern-day incident room, experts will re-examine evidence from the 1800s as well as providing new perspective and context into Victorian London in the style of a live linear investigation.

ITN Productions will produce cinematic style six-part murder series “Manhunt,” and three-part docu-drama “The Railway Murders” that recounts a series of attacks on young women at railway stations in 1980s Britain, examining how the case shaped modern policing.

Firecracker Films will produce two-part “Luke Mitchell” that will reopen the case files to one of Scotland’s most brutal murders, while October Films will produce “Worboys: The New Revelations” that tells the story of a prolific sexual predator.

Clockwork Films and Daisybeck Studios will co-produce documentary film “The Yorkshire Ripper: The Untold Story,” a fresh perspective on the crimes of Peter Sutcliffe (pictured).

Clockwork Films, headed by director Heenan Bhatti, is the eighth indie to have had a commission announced as a result of Channel 5’s Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) indies initiative that was launched last year. The initiative was set up to support BAME indies’ delivery of mainstream programs for the channel. Other commissions previously announced as part of the initiative include “Greatest Christmas Toys” and “The Greatest Toys of all Time” (Big Deal Films), “Scenic Ireland: Coast to Coast” (Afro-Mic), “Sally Lindsay’s Poshest Homes Sleepover” (Chatterbox), “Top 10 Ways to Add 20K to Your Home” (Ten66 Television), “Living with Chronic Pain” (Doc Hearts) and “Most Expensive Celebrity Break Ups” (King of Sunshine Productions).