In this year of Tokyo 2020,  I thought it was time to pen some Paralympic perspectives: what to expect, who to look out for, how it may all pan out.

No more exciting time to do this than on the day we at Channel 4 launch our latest Paralympic promo film.  I’m excited, I’m also fortunate to have had a sneak preview and it’s good, ground-breaking-ly good, gravity defyingly  good and it’s launching later this evening.

It takes me right back to late 2009 when we, at London 2012 were finalizing the deal for the sale of the broadcast rights for the Paralympic Games.   Every UK broadcaster was keen, ‘bags of cash’ keen, production plan keen, super keen for the Paralympics to be back in the UK, the place of their birth in 1948 at Stoke Mandeville.

Why did we go with Channel 4?  For the extent of their ambition and for their desire to mainline Paralympians. They proposed Paralympic stories right through their schedule.  There was great coverage at Games time, of course, delivered through the excellent IMG and Sunset and Vine.  But there was more, high value documentaries, the award winning Last Leg and – yes – so many times more for what C4 promised in terms of marketing of the entire concept.

We worked together and came up with Meet the Superhumans and it went out across all UK TV channels simultaneously, the road block.

How to better that? Was it possible?

Well, as it turned out, some four years later, and as the film we released for the Rio Paralympics said, Yes, I can, yes, it was.

Beautiful, brilliant and a clear build on Superhumans.

So, in the summer of 2021 we bring you, almost the latest chapter in the ongoing Paralympic story.  A story of sport, world beating jaw dropping sport,  a story of courage, excellence and determination.  A story, in essence, which tells us this, just this, what it is to be human.

A sneak preview available here and look out for it as it hits our screens.