TLC in the U.K. is deepening its push into comedy with a new panel format built around the classic Top Trumps card game and fronted by Katherine Ryan. The project, currently titled Top Trumps: The Comedy Pack, will put Ryan in charge as team captains Joel Dommett and Jon Richardson compete through card-based face-offs, live studio tasks and bluffing rounds. TalkbackThames is producing the series with Naked, and it is scheduled to arrive early next year.
The commission arrives as part of a wider comedy strategy for TLC, which has been building out its slate since becoming a free-to-air channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. & Ireland. Alongside the new Top Trumps show, the network has ordered three more seasons of Mock the Week, pushing the revived panel series through Season 5 in 2027. The show, which originally ran at the BBC for two decades before going on hiatus in 2022, returned to TLC earlier this year and has already aired its first season and a summer special. Season 2 is due on Sept. 13.
Mock the Week remains hosted by Dara Ó Briain and is produced by Angst Productions. TLC has also already launched another original comedy format, Unacceptable, hosted by Ed Gamble, which premiered last month and has been picked up for a second season. According to the report, the channel has been investing heavily in comedy since its relaunch at the start of the year, using both returning titles and new commissions to shape its programming identity.
Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. & Ireland’s Graham Lafferty said the new Top Trumps project fits neatly into TLC’s expanding comedy lineup, while also highlighting the renewed commitment to Mock the Week and the return of Unacceptable. The company is also continuing to expand its motoring offerings on Quest, with titles including The Race Mechanic, Richard Hammond’s Workshop and Wheeler Dealers World Tour among the programs set to land there.
Source: variety.com
