At his first season launch as director of programmes at the network, Peter Fincham said the new schedule "promises an exciting lineup of talent, the most anticipated football fixtures, thought-provoking factual programming in addition to ITV1's proven mix of big event entertainment and new, original quality drama".
Key new programmes including musical drama Britannia High and For One Night Only, ITV's modern take on the traditional variety show for Saturday nights, will be sprinkled in amongst entertainment-led schedule staples such as The X Factor and I'm A Celebrity.
Glitzy events will tie together the sporting and light entertainment strands of the new schedule, encompassing a new Soccer Aid, a second iteration of musical special Divas, and We Are Not Amused, a comedy show produced to benefit The Prince's Trust.
In sport, ITV1 will round out its coverage of F1 but concentrate more on new acquisitions with live coverage of the FA Cup and the England team's attempts to qualify for the 2010 World Cup sitting alongside its existing live UEFA Champions League games.
"We are kicking off the autumn with the best of national and international football – ITV1 will be the home of the FA Cup, England Internationals and the UEFA Champions League for the next four years," said Fincham.
New drama forms bulks up the schedule, headlined by tense family drama The Children, starring Kevin Whately and Lesley Sharp in a "provocative" three-part mini series about step-families. Other new programmes, ranging from the four-part Lost in Austen, which stars ER's Alex Kingston in a new take on the Austen classic Pride and Prejudice, to Connie Fisher's TV drama debut in the one-off film Caught in a Trap, sit alongside returning favourites including Poirot, Wire in the Blood and The Commander.
Real crime dominates the new factual lineup: In the Line of Fire follows the Met's firearms unit; Total Emergency follows the emergency services in Sheffield; and Cops with Cameras returns for a third series. Crime is joined by human interest in the genre, with Undress the Nation in the schedule with new commission Faith in the Frame, a new ten-part series with Melvyn Bragg chairing discussions about religious and secular themes in art.
