Firecracker lands second run of midwifery series
W has ordered a second series of Firecracker Films’ Emma Willis: Delivering Babies after the debut became the channel’s top-performing show of 2018.
The maternity ward format, which follows the former Big Brother host following her midwifery qualification, will return for an expanded 8 x 60-minute run.
The debut run got underway on the UKTV pay-TV channel with 700,000 (4%) in a 10pm slot in November, making it W’s biggest show of the last 12 months.
The six-part run went on to inform an average of 507,000 (2.9%), almost five times the 104,000 (0.6%) slot average.
More than a quarter of viewers (26%) were aged 25-34, up from the 15% average, while almost three-quarters (73%) were female, in line with average.
In the second series, Willis will rejoin her old team, working 10-hour shifts, cleaning beds and taking blood pressure as a full-qualified maternity care assistant in Harlow’s Princess Alexandra Hospital.
In an hour-long one-off special, Emma Willis: Meet The Babies, she will meet some of the parents and babies she encountered during the first series.
Delivering Babies was ordered by UKTV’s senior commissioning editor Helen Nightingale, with genre general manager Steve North and director of commissioning Richard Watsham.
Firecracker’s Sam Emmery will exec produce with Emma Morgan and Jes Wilkins.
Both shows are due to air later this year.