ITV has announced it will launch new show The Assembly following a BBC pilot featuring actor Michael Sheen earlier this year.
Each episode will see a different celebrity face questions from a group of autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people, which will force them to cast aside their media training, with no topic off-limits.
The Assembly received critical acclaim when its 30-minute pilot aired, with Sheen telling The Guardian: “The Assembly’s had more response than anything I’ve ever done.”
Rockerdale Studios, which will produce the show alongside ITV, said it has worked with national and local, autistic and neurodivergent organisations to ensure every element of the programme works for autistic and neurodivergent voices.
Katie Rawcliffe, director of entertainment and daytime at ITV, said: “The Assembly is such a distinct, clever and authentic format, and one that we’re absolutely thrilled to commission for a full first series for ITV1 and ITVX.
“I can’t wait for The Assembly interviewers to ask our brilliant cast of celebrities a plethora of burning questions, which will no doubt make for must-watch TV.”
The show has been adapted from French series Les Rencontres Du Papotin, which launched in 2022 on France 2.
It featured appearances from notable French figures including Killing Eve star Camille Cottin and President Emmanuel Macron, who was asked by the panel if it was “really role model behaviour to marry one’s teacher”, to which he replied that you do not choose who you “love”.
Michelle Singer, executive producer for Rockerdale Studios, added: “We’re absolutely buzzing to be bringing The Assembly to ITV and delighted that, just like us, the team there want to see more of telly’s most mischievous cast putting proper famous types under the microscope.
“This show will be funny and naughty and warm and smart and, bloody hell, we’ve got ourselves all worked up now, we just cannot wait to make it.”
It has also been adapted for audiences in Australia, Denmark, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, and is in production in eight other territories.
The four-part series will air on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player in 2025.
The Assembly will be made using part of ITV’s Diversity Commissioning Fund, launched in 2022.
The fund reserved £80 million of the content commissioning budget over the next three years to help drive change towards racial equity and disability equity, in whose stories get told, and who gets opportunities in TV production.
