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ITV is committed to factual programming, rooted in quality journalism, that tells important stories in an engaging way. These range from hard-hitting documentaries to personality-driven programmes where celebrities raise awareness of key issues.

We are required to broadcast a certain amount of current affairs programming as part of our licence commitment, including 35 hours during peak times. The majority of this requirement is met by the popular Tonight programme.

Factual

Below is a selection of factual programmes aired in 2009:

Holloway - a three part documentary series exploring life behind bars for the 500 female inmates at London’s Holloway Prison. Through personal stories the programme highlighted major social issues such as the role of drug addiction in causing the women to reoffend.

Survival Street – a 12-month series launched in March 2009 which offers an uplifting take on the recession by charting the fortune of one UK street and encouraging people to work together to weather the economic storm. The residents were given advice and set money-saving challenges including bartering, bulk-buying, skills sharing and growing their own produce. The series ended the year at Christmas with a party organised by a group who’d become much closer as a result of the project. The series is accompanied by online blogs from expert and forums discussing money-saving ideas.

7 Days on the Breadline – a three-part series which aimed to highlight how some of Britain’s poorest people live. Mel B, Trinny Woodall, Austin Healey and Keith Allen each spent a week living with low income families in Leeds. The celebrities had to cope on the budget of the households they join and in the process learned about the daily challenges faced by many families in Britain, including paying for food and bills on limited means, dealing with inadequate living conditions, having little or no money to entertain the children and trying to motivate tearaway teenagers to stay in school or get a job.

Charities Oxfam and the Rowntree Trust provided advice on the series.

Supersize Teens Can’t Stop Eating – a sensitively handled film about the issues of obesity and the pros and cons of the gastric bypass, an invasive surgical procedures being pioneered in the US and mooted as a solution to teenage obesity in Britain. The programme profiled two American teenagers whose lives were in danger from their obesity as they desperately tried to lose weight.

Stephen Tompkinson’s African Balloon Adventure – a three-part journey across Africa highlighting the culture, landscapes, history, wildlife and challenges of the continent. Stephen met tribal chiefs, visited children in local orphanages, projects that are dealing with the aftermath of civil war and initiatives to protect endangered species.

Trevor McDonald’s Secret Caribbean – a three-part series which explored the world beyond the holiday brochures, focusing on the culture, society, history and , geography of the Caribbean The programmes looked at a diverse range of issues, including British people in Jamaican prisons, the lives of Cuban factory workers, the story of coffee production and social action projects for disadvantaged young people.

Police Camera Action – a special one hour programme presented by Gethin Jones which highlighted the dangers of drink driving. Self confessed drink-drivers and Gethin put themselves under test conditions to see the potential consequences of their actions.

Dishing the Dirt - a four-part series that went undercover into restaurants in some of Britain’s major cities to expose poor hygiene standards.

To Catch a Paedophile - a two-part series, made in close association with specialists from Scotland Yard, which for the first time captured on camera the pursuit and arrest of suspects.

Fiddles, Cheats and Scams – a two-part programme that exposed brazen benefit frauds and gave viewers access to revealing surveillance footage of some of the fraudsters in action.

Help I Caught it Abroad - filmed largely at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, the programme and gave viewers an insight into the potentially deadly diseases that can affect overseas travellers.

Billy Connolly: Journey To The Edge Of The World - a programme where Billy Conolly travelled through the treacherous Northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a journey only recently made possible by climate change which has caused enough ice to melt to created a sea passage.

Current affairs

Tonight, the UK’s most popular peak time current affairs programmes, covers key issues twice a week throughout the spring, autumn and early winter. Highlights from 2009 included:

• A special feature on the devastating fires in Victoria, Australia
• Reporting of the MPs’ expenses saga
• A moving exploration into infant mortality
• Investigations into the sale of confidential health records.
• Coverage of the impacts of the recession including tips for helping families to get their household budget back into shape.