Speaking ahead of their Spotlight panel at Edinburgh TV Festival 2026, Radio Times spoke with three of the broadcaster's most important figures: Jamie Morris, Managing Director, Programming; Meghan Lyvers, Managing Director, Scripted Originals; and Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director, Unscripted Originals.
We discussed returning series, breakout hits, acquisitions, and some truly original titles on the way for Sky viewers.
Sky’s big plans...
As he puts it, Sky benefits from being "a very diverse business, so we're not simply certified ad revenue," pointing to sports, mobile and broadband as pillars that keep commissioning budgets healthy.
Those financial foundations underpin Morris’s next rather bold claim: "2027 is going to be one of our biggest years ever in content," with plans already mapped "to 2029."
That ambition, Morris says, is a direct response to subscriber feedback gathered across 2024 and 2025, when customers made clear they wanted "more originals, more distinct originals, originals that surprise us."
Of course, Sky’s television offering also has a long history of acquisitions from the US and beyond, from 24 to The Simpsons, so where do they sit now alongside their own shows?
Morris is candid that "US scripted content is really important" to subscribers, name-checking Peacock's upcoming Friday the 13th prequel Crystal Lake, produced by A24 and starring Linda Cardellini, and Meghan Fahy and Rose Byrne's thriller The Good Daughter, alongside the final season of hit comedy Hacks and the second season of The Paper.
The second season will also air through Sky and NOW in the UK.
Sky has "about 155" original kids' titles on the platform, and Morris says the broadcaster is committed and wants to keep investing "in kids' content, and the more British, the better," gleefully pointing to back-to-back BAFTA wins for factual strand Sky Kids Investigates as proof of that commitment.
"We think we can give an unrivalled kids’ offering," concludes Morris.
Sky's Original Drama and Comedy want "big characters"
Instead, she describes a strategy rooted in audience connection with "big characters, big emotions," ranging from cathartic tragedy to full-on escapism.
She highlights with sheer passion a recent offering from the broadcaster, Possession, from first-time creator Karla Crome, as the clearest recent example: a story about "a biracial lawyer in Bristol" sent to Jamaica that tips into "bonkers genre horror territory."
A similar spirit drove The Death of Bunny Munro, which she calls "a love letter... to [author] Nick Cave," praising BAFTA-nominated Matt Smith and newcomer Rafael Mathé for their "fearless" performances.
"Like our entire slate isn't full of those types of shows," notes Lyvers, "but we feel like it's a great opportunity to drop in one or two where we can."
Under Salt Marsh worked, she argues, because it let audiences in through a recognisable genre — "investigative or murder mystery" — before revealing something stranger underneath, relatable concerns around climate anxiety and community pressure woven into "this incredible tour de force."
Returning favourites
"So it’ll still have a murder mystery, very specific locale," shares Lyvers. "Something is happening in the community. Very propulsive."
Meanwhile, season two of Sweetpea is also on the way, with a trailer recently released, and continues Ella Purnell's arc as a wallflower turned vigilante, a show Lyvers describes as sitting between "wish-fulfilment, heightened fantasy" and a "familiar genre" crime investigation.
"They go up to Scandinavia in search of the Northern Lights, which is really just like the two just having a competition with each other, basically through these stunning locales and eating amazing food that I would like to eat, probably never will."
Also in the world of comedy is the beloved sitcom Mr Bigstuff, which is now shooting its next run with Danny Dyer and Ryan Sampson.
She also offered an update on The Day of the Jackal season 2, which will be back in the Spring following a popular first run with Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne.
"We're in the edit now," Lyvers reveals. "We finally wrapped, so we're cutting season two."
Coming Soon
Lyvers explains Sky's decision to commission two seasons upfront by pointing to Kay's rare clarity of vision at pitch stage, plus the practical reality that "he can go work on shows elsewhere", making an immediate double order a way of securing his time and delivering the next chapter to audiences faster.
The same logic applied to blockbuster thriller Prisoner, where creator Matt Charman's long-term plan led Sky to commit to a second season "before we had launched season one."
"We start shooting like basically now, but it's an incredible, young, twisted way in which you can look at modern dating and love," she noted. "It's set in London. It's from Tom Aspell, who created it. But it's Working Title. Anthony Boyle is in it. Connor Swindells is in it. Sienna Kelly's in it. The cast is bonkers. Elliot Hegarty is directing it."
She added: "We were at the read-through yesterday. It's really, really original and fun and skewering and honest and authentic around just like what dating looks like right now, but turned on its head. It's a very heightened sort of story, but it is quite provocative, so we're excited about that, and we're excited to start shooting that."
"I would say we're gearing up to start shooting The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," reveals Lyvers, "and so we have some really, really exciting news around castings, director, locations."
"James McAvoy is in every scene, and he's amazing," comments Lyvers. "And so that feels like just a really original story that we get to tell and support."
Sky Unscripted speaking to audiences who know "when it's not real"
Like Morris, Egdar-Jones cites The Dyers’ Caravan Park series, which he says carries real purpose, noting that Danny Dyer "wants to bring back the Great British holiday" while tackling real-world issues such as water pollution in the upcoming season.
Phil adds: "With audiences, we really talk about authenticity, talk about character, talk all these things. Audiences really do sniff out when it's not real, and I think we're super mindful of that."
Citing the Katie Price documentary, he notes: "I think it’s possible to make a premium piece out of what you would think of as sort of reality tabloid fodder.”
Edgar-Jones recounts early conversations with legendary producer Lorne Michaels' team "just after COVID," describing SNL as "a house" and Sky's UK edition as "another room in that house," filmed at the British Television Centre with all the legacy in British television and comedy that this entails.
Edgar-Jones adds: "There were a couple of turning points when we announced the cast. People went, ‘Oh, this is interesting. It's not the usual suspects, if you like.’ We were always clear it was going to be new or next-generation talent, if you like. And then when we announced the writers, the comedy community started really getting behind it. So, obviously, you worry about shows when you launch them, but I knew it was going to be good, so I wasn't worried about it. That's the thing, isn't it? You think nobody might watch it, people might hate it, but if you know it's good, that's all you can do, isn't it?"
Lyvers then adds some colour on transmission night for the premiere, recalling a colleague reading live social reaction that shifted from hostility to grudging enjoyment within a single episode.
The next big launch for the unscripted side of the business has to be the political thriller The Wargame, which includes participation from veteran politicians such as Nicola Sturgeon, Jim Murphy, Penny Mourdant, and Michael Gove as a "pretend prime minister."
The series takes place in a closed room, and the MOD and intelligence chiefs create scenarios for politicians to be challenged by.
"And then we've got proper military chiefs and people from MOD, and we've got all these sort of war gaming scenarios that we throw at them. They don't know what's coming at them, and then they have to sort of deal with it."
He comments enthusiastically: "It's a proper thriller, you know, you do realise that at the heart of all these decisions in government, there are human beings who have to make impossible choices all the time."
"We just try to do things that other people aren't doing," he states. "In my position, looking after entertainment, most of the formats that get pitched are basically The Traitors."
"This seems to happen in TV. Someone has a hit, and everyone tries to sort of do their version. We’re just not going to do that. We're trying to do stuff that is distinctively ours, and that surprises and delights an audience."
On Sky Arts, Edgar-Jones says: "It's my little baby, and you know it's one of those things that over the years it's really supported emerging artists and young artists, and the Sky Arts Awards is something that the whole cultural community really gets behind every year and values.
"So I'm very proud of that, very proud of the Sky Arts Channel."
What is Sky’s position on AI?
Edgar-Jones says Sky's guidelines require AI to enhance rather than replace craft, pointing to The Wargame's visual effects depicting the sinking of a ship and the bombing of London as sequences the show "couldn't have made without using AI," while stressing every person depicted remains real.
As Edgar-Jones summarises: "It's a creative tool, not a creative replacement."
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