UK broadcaster Channel 4 has ordered the innovative competition format Murder Island, which mixes factual entertainment and crime drama, from STV Studios and Motion Content Group.

The six-part series revolves around a fictional murder plot written and developed by a major crime writer.

It will see members of the public step into the role of detective in a murder mystery investigation, with participants having just one week to compete and find out if they’ve got what it takes to solve the crime.

The series was developed by STV Studios’ creative director for factual, Craig Hunter (pictured), STV Studios’ director of development Lucy Hazzard and executive producer Jonathan Smith (24 Hours in Police Custody, The Murder Trial).

“I’m thrilled to have attracted some of the best names in the industry to work on this ground-breaking new show,” Hunter said in a statement. “Blending documentary and drama, together with a gripping competitive format has never been done on this scale before. It genuinely feels like we are forging new ground and that’s incredibly exciting.”

The series is funded from Channel 4’s Contestable Pot – a fund set up last year to find the next innovative, channel-defining format for Channel 4 with a goal of producing two original series to debut in 2021.

“This project is everything I hoped the Contestable Pot process would throw up… a bold, noisy, compelling idea that brings together two really popular genres centered around such an enticing question – ‘Could you solve a murder?’ – and with the combined forces of some of the biggest talents in TV, I am so looking forward to seeing it turn into telly,” Kelly Webb-Lamb, deputy director of programs at Channel 4, said in a statement.

Hunter will EP for STV Studios, alongside Smith, Sara Evans (Hospital, 24 Hours in Police Custody) and David Clews (Educating…, The Real Marigold Hotel), who is on a short secondment from Two Four and will also direct the series. Executive producer for Motion Content Group is Melanie Darlaston.

The series was commissioned by Channel 4 factual commissioners Alisa Pomeroy, Madonna Benjamin and Harjeet Chhokar, and was selected by Webb-Lamb, as part of the Contestable Fund.