Hot Picks: Inside Therapy

An ob-doc format exploring the increasing awareness of mental health issues, Inside Therapy will show a range of people taking part in real-life therapy sessions with psychology experts, who will take them through the inner workings of their minds to help them start a healing process.

Before and after their sessions, the patients also have discussions with presenters Matt and Emma Willis, both of whom have personal experience of therapy, to see how their outlook changes and evolves over the course of their treatment.

Tackling multiple stories within each episode, the show not only spotlights individuals and their issues – from relationships to anxiety and stress at work, grief and the impact of everyday phobias – but also aims to further normalise the idea of therapy, suggests Warner Bros International Television Production global vice-president of format & finished sales André Renaud.

“We all want to explore why we do the things we do in the hope of wanting to release it and accept ourselves,” he says.

“In other fly-on-the-wall series, viewers often watch people talk about their trauma, but Inside Therapy goes into the science of psychology.

“The therapists explain what is happening in the moment and why, which makes the connection to the viewer even more identifiable.”

Renaud explains that the therapists – each of whom is a recognised authority and author in their particular field – use their own varied life experiences to guide the individuals on their paths, pointing to one expert who grew up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

“Our hosts Matt and Emma also have lived experience with therapy, and they are there to show the network of participants that they are not alone in how they are feeling – and relate that back to viewers at home. The intention is that all the conversations are very relatable.”

Renaud believes the series will strike a chord because there has been a huge uptick in people around the world not only having conversations about mental health, but also asking for therapy.

“It’s an evolution of our human spirit,” he says. “Everybody needs to have a conversation about things that impact them because being fearful is a universal thing. There are many people in their 20s doing therapy, but I also know people in their 70s who are doing the same. There is really broad appeal.”

The former BBC Studios exec says the series plays particularly well into a growing need for ob docs to be authentic and truthful in their storytelling.

“Audiences want to see themselves reflected across content in this particular genre – to be able to find the relativity and the things that connect us, even when people’s circumstances are different,” he adds.

As well as having strong potential to travel across territories that are known for “dynamic social stories” – such as the Nordics, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada – Renaud hopes the show will also reach audiences that “aren’t expecting to see it”.

“I’m hopeful that we will soon have lots of interest in the tape and format version,” he says.