Sky One with his goofy antics and obsession with The Simpsons might seem younger than he is. Interestingly, Sky One is the fourth eldest TV channel in the UK, but was held back in his early years by people’s reluctance to adopt satellite dishes. Now that Sky One has been allowed to compete with the big boys of terrestrial TV, he has progressed in interesting and unexpected ways.

Strengths
Sky One has always succeeded when working with American formats. These have historically included ER, Friends and Married With Children. Now looking to keep his work modern and relevant, Sky One has forged promising new bonds with the dramatic society (Cold Case, Bones, Las Vegas), while managing to inject some colour into their work with science-fiction (The 4400) and fashion (Project Runway.) This ability to work well with international tasks has also been evidenced by the number of mini-series, such as Marco Polo and Final Approach.

Sky One has proved very adept at more genre programming, with fantasy drama The Hogfather providing his highest ever ratings at Christmas 2006. This was a clever combination of famous faces (David Jason), established source material (the novel from Terry Pratchett) and saving up his pocket money for some convincing special effects. More of the same please.

He has also gained some gold stars for his commitment to sports-based shows, both as individual projects (Michael Owen: A Year In The Life Of, Steven Gerrard: A Year In My Life and The Premiership’s Greatest Foreign Players) and more long-running ones (Football Years.) This interest in non-academic fare has been tempered by a flare for science work. Though unconventional and more experimental than BBC1 and BBC2′s more traditional tendencies, work like Braniac: Science Abuse, Crash Test Dummies and Vroom Vroom have seen Sky One move in new and exciting directions.

Unexpected achievements have occurred over the past 12 months and we were delighted when Sky Once picked up a BAFTA award for Ross Kemp on Gangs (pictured right). Sky One has never done well in documentaries and we have high hopes for the follow-up series to start later this month. Another high came with Cirque de Celebrité, the celebrity reality show which saw showbiz has-beens attempt circus tricks. Whether the magic will be recreated with the upcoming second season will be another new challenge for Sky One.

Weaknesses
Not all experiments by Sky One have fared well, with some creations emitting the infamous ‘bad egg smell’ from the chemistry lab. Stinkers have included the changes at morning news show Sunrise which have seen the show drop out of the channel’s most watched list, So You Think You’re Royal?, Pirate Master and Corkscrewed. Such failures shouldn’t deter Sky One from trying new things, but sadly with a daytime line-up that rarely changes, such poor results might affect his confidence.

This lack of variety or diversity has seen Sky One become overly reliant on top subject The Simpsons. On a Sunday night the animated sitcom can be shown for three consecutive hours, while on weeknights it dominates primetime scheduling. He has also become complacent and lazy during the daytime, with much of his output repeat viewings and long-finished shows (Star Trek, Malcolm In The Middle and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.)

As mentioned previously, Sky One is a consistent performer with US programmes but has allowed these successes to go to his head. On occasion, Sky One has disrespected the content with late scheduling (Weeds) and has grown cocky over shows that do not merit it (Lovespring International.) On a very serious note, Sky One has also been accused of copying from the other children. He has blatantly flaunted work that has been featured on other channels (Lost, 24 and the upcoming Prison Break) and should mind that he doesn’t get a reputation for profiting from the hard work and commitment of classmates.

Summary
Sky One has produced some unusual work this year that promises much. Whether Sky One can continue these developments is his main focus and he should learn to transfer his attentions from The Simpsons and other much-repeated shows to these fresher subjects.

Overall grade: B -