ITV TO MARK PRINCESS DIANA'S 60th BIRTHDAY WITH TWO NEW COMMISSIONS

ITV has commissioned a new feature-length film marking what would have been Princess Diana's 60th birthday, aiming to tell the definitive story of the most famous woman in the world.

ITV also announced a second commission Diana’s Decades, a 3x60 series, taking in each stage of the princess’s life as it played out against and influenced the spirit of the times.

Told in the present tense, the 1x90 film Diana draws on never-heard-before testimony and rarely-seen archive footage to immerse viewers in the most iconic moments of the Princess’s life.

Using a rich tapestry of footage, photos and letters from those who were closest to the Princess, it pieces together her incredible journey from being a teenage Pimlico nursery assistant to finding her voice as the Princess of Wales.

Executive Producer for 72 Films, David Glover, says: “There is something a bit magical about Princess Diana – and despite the difficulties in her personal life she managed to use her connection with people to do huge amounts of good. Her 60th birthday feels like the perfect time to re-examine her life and legacy and explore just how she went from a relatively unknown teenager to the most mourned person who ever lived.”

Diana’s Decades will take a fresh approach to the princess’s life – showing how she channelled as well as influenced the zeitgeist at the end of the 20th Century. Each episode highlights how an era of her life encapsulated the spirit of the age and inspired profound social change.

The series tracks down people – some who have never given interviews before - who met her or whose lives intersected hers in some way from her early Royal life as a shy bride, through her high-profile work for HIV charities and much publicised contact with Hollywood and pop royalty in the 1980s, through to her becoming the ‘People’s Princess’ and emblem of a new public emotional candour in the changing face of Britain under New Labour in the 1990s.

Daniela Neumann, MD of Spun Gold TV says: “Nearly 25 years on from her tragic death, Diana, Princess of Wales continues to lead our news bulletins and conversations not just in Britain but around the world. Diana’s Decades takes a fresh approach to recounting her life and legacy by looking at how she was shaped by the changing world around her and as a result transformed not just the monarchy but also society more widely as her legacy.”