Sunday in the Mountains: Ski Sunday’s Spirit May Live On in Ambitious New Multi-Platform Reboot

The demise of the BBC’s iconic Ski Sunday may have marked the end of an era, but a new venture believes the audience that made the programme a British institution is waiting to be served once again.

Just weeks after the BBC confirmed that Ski Sunday would not return following a run dating back to 1978, former presenter and four-time Olympian Chemmy Alcott, alongside media company Wavelength and Extreme Sports Channel founder Alistair Gosling, has unveiled an ambitious successor: Sunday in the Mountains.

Positioned as "the new Ski Sunday", the project aims to move beyond traditional television and build a year-round winter sports media brand spanning broadcast, streaming and social platforms. According to the founders, six flagship 45-minute episodes will launch in January 2027 and follow the Alpine Ski World Cup circuit across Europe's leading resorts.

The BBC's decision to retire Ski Sunday after almost five decades prompted a strong reaction across Britain's snowsports community. The corporation cited changing viewing habits and financial pressures as reasons for ending the programme, while acknowledging its iconic status within British sports broadcasting.

The reaction highlighted the continued affection for the brand. Industry figures, viewers and former athletes voiced disappointment, while online campaigns gathered significant support in the days following the announcement.

That response has provided the foundation for the new venture's central argument: the programme may be gone, but the audience remains.

"The programme has ended. The stories haven't. The athletes haven't. The mountains haven't. And the audience hasn't," states the project's founding presentation.

Unlike its BBC predecessor, Sunday in the Mountains is designed from the outset as a multi-platform content operation.

Alongside the six long-form episodes, the production team plans daily short-form content distributed across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and other digital channels. Distribution will be driven by Wavelength's existing social media ecosystem, which the company says reaches more than 20 million followers and generates over 200 million monthly video views.

The format combines World Cup ski racing with travel, adventure, mountain culture, technology and lifestyle storytelling.

Each episode will feature a mixture of race coverage, destination guides, athlete access, celebrity guests and documentary-style films exploring mountain communities and innovation. Recurring segments include:

• Mountain Code: short films built around big questions about mountain life and sustainability.

• The Chairlift: candid conversations with athletes filmed while riding lifts.

• Mountain People: stories highlighting individuals shaping mountain communities.

• Technology and future-of-the-mountains features examining innovation across the alpine world.

A key asset for the project is the involvement of Chemmy Alcott, one of British skiing's most recognisable figures.

A four-time Winter Olympian and one of the final lead presenters of Ski Sunday, Alcott brings credibility with dedicated snowsports audiences while also offering wider mainstream appeal through her broadcasting career. Alcott will serve as presenter, co-producer and creative director.

The concept places her in the centre of each episode, skiing and riding alongside athletes, creators and guest presenters drawn from the worlds of sport, music and social media.  "For years I had the privilege of bringing the mountains into people's living rooms. Now I want to take people with me into the mountains," Alcott says in the project materials.

While Alpine World Cup racing remains a cornerstone, the creators are keen to emphasise that the programme is not solely for committed skiers.

The show plans a broader editorial mix encompassing snowboarding, mountain travel, wellness, local culture, food, sustainability and adventure tourism. The objective is to replicate one of Ski Sunday's historic strengths: attracting viewers who were fascinated by mountain life even if they did not actively ski.

That approach reflects wider trends in sports media, where audiences increasingly consume personality-led storytelling and lifestyle content alongside live competition.

The venture is now actively seeking founding commercial partners across sectors including automotive, resorts, destinations, airlines, apparel, watches, nutrition and technology.

Rather than traditional sponsorship packages, the team is positioning the opportunities around category ownership, branded storytelling and long-term participation in building what they describe as a new winter sports media platform.

With category exclusivity available and only a limited number of founding partner positions on offer, discussions are already underway ahead of the January 2027 launch.

Whether Sunday in the Mountains can replicate the cultural impact of a programme that introduced generations of Britons to Franz Klammer, Konrad Bartelski and the World Cup circuit remains to be seen. Ski Sunday occupied a unique place in British television for nearly half a century and became as famous for its theme music as its racing coverage.

Yet its creators believe the combination of established talent, new digital distribution and enduring enthusiasm for mountain sports creates a compelling opportunity.

If successful, Sunday in the Mountains could become not simply a replacement for Ski Sunday, but a reinvention of how winter sports are presented to a new generation of viewers.