Former ABC Exec & ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ EP Duncan Gray Takes Back Control Of Twenty Six 03 After Scoring BBC Commission

Former ABC exec and Jimmy Kimmel Live! executive producer Duncan Gray has taken full control of production company Twenty Six 03 Entertainment after striking a deal with original investor Cineflix Media.

Twenty Six 03 Entertainment was set up as a joint venture between Gray and Cineflix in 2017 and Gray, who was previously VP, Alternative Series and Specials at ABC Entertainment has now become majority shareholder of the business with Cineflix taking a minority position.

Gray told Deadline that the company, which he runs with managing director Antonia Hurford-Jones, that “Cineflix has helped Twenty Six 03 to get to the stage where being able to take majority control made complete sense for both parties.”

He added that the company is developing a slew of projects across genres and it is understood that the company is close to unveiling a big project in the reality space in the coming weeks.

This comes as the company landed its latest BBC commission – a documentary starring former Love Island contestant Chris Hughes. The doc will launch on youth-skewing network BBC Three, likely early next year

Me, My Brother and Our Balls is the first Twenty Six 03 Entertainment project commissioned under the company’s new ownership structure, which sees founder Duncan Gray as majority shareholder.

The one-off doc follows Hughes after he had a testicular examination on live television. Facebook views of the clip total over thirty-five million as Hughes aimed to raise awareness for testicular cancer.

As a consequence of that appearance and inspired by his brother for having had the ‘balls’ to do it, Chris’s older brother Ben checked himself for the first time, found a lump and was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Prior to an operation to have his testicle removed, Ben went to freeze his sperm for potential use after the operation. It was during this process that he discovered his sample didn’t contain any sperm at all. Ben’s cancer diagnosis has brought the fertility issue into focus for both brothers. Chris previously had a health scare due to a problem with his testicles and has subsequently undergone several operations. His last sperm test was six years ago and he is long overdue for another test.

Hughes said, “What started as an attempt to shed light on an issue that affects so many men turned into an incredibly personal journey for me and my family and has brought me even closer to my brother, Ben. I also learned things about male fertility that really surprised me, so hopefully people will find the documentary educational. Fertility is often a subject that guys don’t consider until it might be too late, so I’m hoping this documentary will raise awareness and help men who might be struggling with these issues.”

Cineflix holds distribution rights, outside of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, for Me, My Brother and Our Balls and any projects developed by Twenty Six 03 prior to the new deal. Distribution rights for projects developed after the new brokered deal will be retained by Twenty Six 03 Entertainment.

Gray originally launched Twenty Six 03 in 2015 with Sky music comedy format Bring The Noise.

-Deadline