Amazon orders Studio Lambert’s ‘high school dating format’ & music-skewing drama

Georgia Brown

Amazon in the UK has commissioned a new reality dating format from The Circle producer Studio Lambert, along with a musical drama set in the country’s rap, grime and drill music scene.

The untitled eight-part dating format will follow a diverse group of individuals who look for love by attending a mock US high school.

The show will track the relationship seekers as they live a fantasy life within the high school ahead of an end-of-series prom, when the winning couple will be revealed. The world will reflect a 1980s-2000s setting, with the diverse contestant line-up including an array of LGBTQ+ participants.

Studio Lambert’s creative chief Tim Harcourt, who exec produces, said “the idea of finding love in the melting pot of a American High School is a pop culture cornerstone,” adding that the show would provide “a chance to relieve a cinematic version” of the singletons’ school days.

Amazon explores Jungle & eyes access docs

The retail giant-backed streamer has also greenlit Jungle, which follows two inner city London-based strangers who are part of the country’s rap, grim and drill music scene.

UK-based Nothing Lost – founded by Chas Appeti and Junio Okoli – is producing, with the show marking the company’s first scripted commission.

Amazon’s director of European original Georgia Brown unveiled the new shows at the Edinburgh TV Festival, which wrapped its virtual edition yesterday.

Speaking at the event, she added that she was on the look-out for more access docuseries, following the success of its All Or Nothing format, which explores sporting teams around the globe.

The streamer is preparing a version focused on English football team Tottenham Hostpur, while other incarnations have explored the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, college side the Michigan Wolverines, and New Zealand’s national rugby union team the All Blacks.

Sport has been an increasingly important focus for Amazon, whose slate has also included Take Us Home: Leeds United, Inside Borussia Dortmund, Steve Gerrard’s Make Us Dream and El Corazón de Sergio Ramos. The platform also launched weekly studio entertainment show Back Of The Net.

Brown added that she was looking for subjects that had “fanatical audiences” offering “a unique point of view.”