Sky 1 HD is today (Friday 22 June, 2012) delighted to announce three new pilot entertainment shows. DUCK QUACKS DON’T ECHO, HELP ME I’M HUMAN! and YOU AND WHOSE ARMY? have been commissioned from Magnum Media, Hat Trick and Zeppotron respectively by Sky’s Head of Entertainment, Phil Edgar-Jones. The shows will be filmed later this year and will TX in early 2013 on Sky 1 HD.

DUCK QUACKS DON’T ECHO. Women blink twice as much as men. The average office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet. All these amazing facts and many more will be put to the test by a panel of celebrity guests on DUCK QUACKS DON’T ECHO. Four contestants will compete against each other to present their best-known fact and prove it’s true using any means possible, either in the studio or with a VT. Their fellow panellists will give them marks out of 10 and the winner will be the person with the highest score at the end of the night. DUCK QUACKS DON’T ECHO is a 1 x 60’ from Magnum Media Production and will be exec produced by Andy Auerbach and Dean Nabarro for Magnum Media, and Phil-Edgar Jones and Antonia Hurford-Jones for Sky and Phil Edgar-Jones and Antonia Hurford-Jones for Sky.

HELP ME I’M HUMAN! is a smart and candid comedy chat show dedicated to helping us navigate our way through the minefield that is modern life - the mixed signals, indecision, awkwardness and guilt. How do you know if the woman you’re about to offer your seat to is pregnant or just fat? How do you choose between a handshake, hug or a kiss? What should you do if your boss asks to be your friend on Facebook? What do you say to that friend who is always fishing for compliments? HELP ME I’M HUMAN! will confront these cringeworthy issues head on, as it establishes brand new rules for the tricky business of 21st century life. The dilemmas will be opened up to discussion before a panel of celebrity guests, whilst a hidden camera team will go out onto the streets to test different responses to the predicaments. Viewers will be encouraged to interact with the show by sending in their dilemmas and questions and participating in an online forum. HELP ME I’M HUMAN! is a 1 x 60’ from Hat Trick Productions. The pilot will be exec produced by Richard Wilson for Hat Trick.

YOU AND WHOSE ARMY is a unique and ultra competitive new challenge show that’s all about celebrities and their mates. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Two celebrities lead their teams – hand-picked recruits consisting of friends, family, fellow celebs and unlikely experts – as they compete against each other in a series of nail-biting head to head battles set in a combat arena.

Some of the battles will be mental challenges (quizzes or bizarre memory feats), some will be physical (heavyweight boxing, target parachuting or completing an obstacle course set in a wind tunnel) and some will be neither (a nationwide hunt for the best celebrity lookalike). All will be tense, all will be head-to-head, and all will be in a giant arena setting. But the real key to YOU AND WHOSE ARMY?The pilot will be exec produced by Ruth Phillips, Peter Holmes and Richard Osman for Zeppotron and Phil Edgar-Jones and Antonia Hurford-Jones for Sky. is – who’s in your team? YOU AND WHOSE ARMY is a 1 x 60’ from Zeppotron.

Phil Edgar Jones, Head of Entertainment, Sky, says “We’re on a mission to give all Sky customers as many reasons as possible to have a good laugh and are looking to find the next big entertainment show to complement Got To Dance and A League of Their Own. These new shows will be exciting, energetic, possibly a little bit eccentric but, above all, good family fun."

This latest commission is part of Sky's commitment to increase its investment in original British content by 50% over the next three years. By 2014, Sky expects to invest £600 million a year in British programmes across its portfolio of channels.  This commitment follows the success of home-grown comedies such as TROLLIED, the BAFTA award winning SPY and STELLA, entertainment hits GOT TO DANCE and A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, dramas such as STRIKE BACK and MAD DOGS, and factual shows including ROSS KEMP EXTREME WORLD, AN IDIOT ABROAD and the BAFTA-winning documentary FLYING MONSTERS 3D.