Knitting needles at the ready, as Channel 4 commissions a brand-new crafty competition series The Game of Wool for More 4…
With over 101 million viral ‘knitting’ videos on TikTok and global stars such as Tom Daley, Lorde, Ryan Gosling and Nicholas Hoult all mastering the skill of yarning over, it’s safe to say that wool has once again become ‘cool’.
Head of Lifestyle at Channel 4, Jo Street:
“I’m delighted to commission Hello Halo to produce The Game of Wool for More 4. As a Glasgow-based production company, they’re producing a show deeply rooted in the Scottish countryside and its historical impact, so Hello Halo could not be the more perfect indie to be working on this with. I truly hope the fact that knitting is so on trend for the ‘knit-tok’ generation means our show will find enthusiastic audiences in both the crafting community and beyond, bringing this wholesome pursuit to the mainstream who will be able to watch and stream the series on Channel 4.”
This eight-part series, produced by Glasgow-based Hello Halo (part of STV Studios), sees 10 ambitious creatives take on a series of complex challenges where they have the chance to win a money-can’t-buy prize and be the UK’s first TV knitting champion. Banijay Entertainment will represent the format and finished tape sales internationally.
Set against the picturesque countryside of rural Scotland, which is steeped in knitting and wool heritage, each episode sees the knitters tackle two challenges: ‘The Big Knit’ where they’ll be working together in teams on an extremely complex project, as well as ‘The Wee Knit’ where they’ll take on individual briefs that will really test their capabilities, skill level and whether they can tell a Fair Aisle from Intarsia.
Each week, the competitors must create a whole host of unique makes and larger than life sculptural pieces – all made from wool. These include clothing, jewellery, home accessories, furniture, sculptures and they may even try their hands at ‘yarn bombing’.
But the knitters should be truly stitching themselves, as they’ll be under the watchful eye of two established and respected creatives from the world of wool – Di Gilpin and Sheila Greenwell. Known for their work knitting for fashion juggernauts such as Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith and NIKE, Di and Sheila will be sure to put the knitters through their paces. Di will be judging their creative approaches, whilst Sheila will be inspecting their technique.
But our formidable pair of experts won’t be alone, each week they’ll be joined be a celebrity guest judge who’ll help them decide who goes through and who’ll be ‘cast off’ home.
At the end of the competition, only one will win the glory of being the first winner of The Game of Wool.
