Hot Picks: Wedding Valley

DCD Rights chief executive Nicky Davies Williams describes UKTV’s Wedding Valley as a “feel-good show in a time of insecurity”, which aims to appeal to a global female audience.

The factual entertainment show, produced by Little Gem Media, follows wedding businesses in Lancashire’s booming wedding destination, Ribble Valley, as they set out to offer engaged couples the best day of their lives.

The 10-part series is exec produced by Ben Gale and produced by Tammy Hale, and documents the build-up to some of the 1,500 weddings that took place in the area over five months from May 2022.

Wedding Valley is a “softer wedding show in many ways” than similar formats in DCD’s catalogue, such as Bridezilla and I Found The Gown, Davies Williams says.

“The series has emotional jeopardy and strong characters, as well as a degree of looking at the cost,” she adds. “We don’t feature that overly heavily, but every woman watching will be thinking ‘I bet that wedding costs a fortune’.”

DCD Rights will be targeting Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and Scandinavia, where there has been “interest in this style of programming from channels like A&E and Discovery, but also the local broadcasters”, Davies Williams says.

She expects the format to travel “extremely well”, adding that “when emotion is at the heart of the show, it always communicates well on screen”.

DCD Rights, which was bought by 108 Media for £4.7m last year, is aiming to expand its non-scripted programming to include long-running franchises that have more “glitter”, Davies Williams says.