Let the Para Games begin
Channel 4 prepares for its biggest and boldest Paralympics broadcast in history with the Tokyo 2020 event
Channel 4 is gearing up for its most ambitious Paralympics coverage to date. It will feature more than 300 hours of TV – most of it live – with nearly three-quarters of the presenting team being disabled, the largest number ever seen on UK screens.
The Tokyo Paralympics 2020 will be broadcast from Tokyo and Leeds. There will also be a daily episode of The Last Leg, broadcast from London. Among the hosts covering the Games will be Ade Adepitan, Sophie Morgan, Alex Brooker, Adam Hills, Rosie Jones, Josh Widdicombe, Clare Balding and Vick Hope.
Although the Paralympics have traditionally been overshadowed by the Olympics, Channel 4 has been proactive in raising its profile. For 2012, the broadcaster used graphics to explain how the athletes were classified so that viewers could engage with them and their achievements.
Then, following the successful coverage of the Rio Paralympics in 2016, the broadcaster took the decision to double the airtime for this year’s event. Paralympic sprinter Jonnie Peacock puts much of the improved portrayal of disability in the media down to this.
He said: “The visibility of disabled people today in the UK is 90 per cent attributable to Channel 4. Back in 2010, you wouldn’t see a disabled person on screen unless they were a villain. Now Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing On Ice and I’m A Celebrity are featuring disabled contestants all the time. That’s something to be proud of.”
The Last Leg’s Adam Hills is in total agreement.
He said: “It started with the Olympics in 2012 and you had Channel 4 putting up billboards saying, ‘Thanks for the warm-up’ and busting out that ad with Public Enemy.
“Suddenly there was a follow-up that was actually possibly going to be better than the first show. That summer of winning – we just wrapped it all up in a bow.”