Exclusive: The BBC has achieved something few could have predicted a couple of years ago: it has revved new life into the faltering global brand that was Top Gear — and in doing so, proved that there is enough room on the road for more than one big car show.
The chemistry between new hosts Andrew Flintoff, Chris Harris and Paddy McGuinness has turbocharged the show’s ratings in the UK, meaning last year’s season crossed the finish line with 3.8M viewers, some 1.5M ahead of the previous Matt LeBlanc-fronted season. And the engine was still purring for the premiere of Season 28 last weekend.
This return to growth prompted BBC Two controller Patrick Holland to observe that Top Gear has shed its baggage, including any lingering doubts about its viability without the men who made it a global sensation: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and former showrunner Andy Wilman.
The chemistry between new hosts Andrew Flintoff, Chris Harris and Paddy McGuinness has turbocharged the show’s ratings in the UK, meaning last year’s season crossed the finish line with 3.8M viewers, some 1.5M ahead of the previous Matt LeBlanc-fronted season. And the engine was still purring for the premiere of Season 28 last weekend.
This return to growth prompted BBC Two controller Patrick Holland to observe that Top Gear has shed its baggage, including any lingering doubts about its viability without the men who made it a global sensation: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and former showrunner Andy Wilman.
- 1/31/2020
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Patrick Holland’s latest single is immaculately layered: rolling bass line, soft, percussive pitter-patter, something like birdcalls zipping through the background, a sweet, squeaky synthesizer riff poking through all the prettiness. “Up to You” builds intensity stealthily, as snippets of wordless, pitch-shifted vocals emerge to play tag with the main motif. The fluttering back and forth continues, gaining momentum, until another voice — it sounds like it’s saying “overtaken” — joins the fray, and all three melodies circle each other endlessly until Holland fades out.
Holland used to make music under a different name,...
Holland used to make music under a different name,...
- 1/29/2020
- by Elias Leight
- Rollingstone.com
The BBC and PBS are coming together to co-produce a wildlife show in which they build a waterhole in Tanzania’s Mwiba Wildlife Reserve and capture the creatures that drink from it in intimate detail.
The drinking pool will be the first in the world to be specially rigged with television cameras, as presenters Chris Packham and Ella Al-Shamahi aim to provide a unique perspective on Africa’s most iconic animals.
The three-part series, Waterhole (working title), will be made by the Natural History Unit. Roger Webb is the executive producer, with Anwar Mamon as series producer. It was commissioned by BBC Two controller Patrick Holland, Jack Bootle and Tom Coveney.
Holland said: “This promises to be a ground-breaking, audacious series, taking us closer than ever to wildlife and their essential relationship with water. With climatic change making their environment more uncertain than ever, Waterhole will reveal the challenges facing...
The drinking pool will be the first in the world to be specially rigged with television cameras, as presenters Chris Packham and Ella Al-Shamahi aim to provide a unique perspective on Africa’s most iconic animals.
The three-part series, Waterhole (working title), will be made by the Natural History Unit. Roger Webb is the executive producer, with Anwar Mamon as series producer. It was commissioned by BBC Two controller Patrick Holland, Jack Bootle and Tom Coveney.
Holland said: “This promises to be a ground-breaking, audacious series, taking us closer than ever to wildlife and their essential relationship with water. With climatic change making their environment more uncertain than ever, Waterhole will reveal the challenges facing...
- 1/24/2020
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
The White Princess’ Billy Barratt will star alongside Game of Thrones’ Michelle Fairley, Strike’s Tom Burke and Traitors’ Stephen Campbell Moore in a BBC feature-length drama about the age of criminal responsibility.
The 12-year old Barratt, who featured in the Starz White Princess drama alongside Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer, will play Ray, a 12-year-old boy on trial for murder, in Responsible Child.
The 90-minute drama will air on BBC Two later this year and is produced by Broadchurch producer Kudos and 72 Films.
Owen McDonnell (Killing Eve), Shaun Dingwall (Topboy), Debbie Honeywood (Sorry We Missed You), Angela Wynter (Les Miserables) and James Tarpey (Our Robot Overlords) round out the cast.
Based on real events, the drama is told in two time frames and follows the events that led up to the murder and trial. Ray (Barratt) and his 23-year-old brother Nathan (Tarpey) are arrested after stabbing their mother’s partner.
The 12-year old Barratt, who featured in the Starz White Princess drama alongside Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer, will play Ray, a 12-year-old boy on trial for murder, in Responsible Child.
The 90-minute drama will air on BBC Two later this year and is produced by Broadchurch producer Kudos and 72 Films.
Owen McDonnell (Killing Eve), Shaun Dingwall (Topboy), Debbie Honeywood (Sorry We Missed You), Angela Wynter (Les Miserables) and James Tarpey (Our Robot Overlords) round out the cast.
Based on real events, the drama is told in two time frames and follows the events that led up to the murder and trial. Ray (Barratt) and his 23-year-old brother Nathan (Tarpey) are arrested after stabbing their mother’s partner.
- 11/1/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC is exploring the rise of Tony Blair’s New Labour movement and the triple murder of a family in a Telford blaze as part of its latest documentary orders.
BBC Two has given a greenlight to a five-part series about former British Prime Minister Blair’s political party, which dominated the late 90s and early 2000s. New Labour (w/t), which is produced by BBC Studios, will look at how Blair and his colleagues including Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, John Prescott took control of the Labour Party before becoming elected.
It will chart their leadership of the country through a tumultuous period of war and peace, terror and national trauma and exploring their controversial political legacy and the powerful personalities and emotional fault lines that ran through their years in charge in Britain.
It comes on the back of the success of Thatcher: A Very British Revolution.
BBC Two has given a greenlight to a five-part series about former British Prime Minister Blair’s political party, which dominated the late 90s and early 2000s. New Labour (w/t), which is produced by BBC Studios, will look at how Blair and his colleagues including Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, John Prescott took control of the Labour Party before becoming elected.
It will chart their leadership of the country through a tumultuous period of war and peace, terror and national trauma and exploring their controversial political legacy and the powerful personalities and emotional fault lines that ran through their years in charge in Britain.
It comes on the back of the success of Thatcher: A Very British Revolution.
- 10/29/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
BBC Two has commissioned a second series of Big Talk Productions’ legal comedy Defending The Guilty.
Will Sharpe will return as idealistic rookie barrister Will Packham, who is learning his trade from Humans star Katherine Parkinson’s Caroline, a cynical, worldly-wise pupilmaster.
Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe), Gwyneth Keyworth (Black Mirror) and Prasanna Puwanarajah also star in the show.
The comedy is written by Kieron Quirke, who wrote Cuckoo, and is based on the book Defending The Guilty: Truth And Lies In The Criminal Courtroom by Alex McBride.
Big Talk CEO Kenton Allen, Saurabh Kakkar, and Quirke are the executive producers for the ITV Studios-owned indie, while Kate Daughton is the executive producer for the BBC. Jim Field Smith is the co-executive producer.
The six-part second series was commissioned by BBC comedy controller Shane Allen, Daughton and Patrick Holland, the controller of BBC Two.
Will Sharpe will return as idealistic rookie barrister Will Packham, who is learning his trade from Humans star Katherine Parkinson’s Caroline, a cynical, worldly-wise pupilmaster.
Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe), Gwyneth Keyworth (Black Mirror) and Prasanna Puwanarajah also star in the show.
The comedy is written by Kieron Quirke, who wrote Cuckoo, and is based on the book Defending The Guilty: Truth And Lies In The Criminal Courtroom by Alex McBride.
Big Talk CEO Kenton Allen, Saurabh Kakkar, and Quirke are the executive producers for the ITV Studios-owned indie, while Kate Daughton is the executive producer for the BBC. Jim Field Smith is the co-executive producer.
The six-part second series was commissioned by BBC comedy controller Shane Allen, Daughton and Patrick Holland, the controller of BBC Two.
- 10/23/2019
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Life in Colour’.
Together with Netflix and the BBC, the Nine Network has co-commissioned three-part series Life In Colour, presented by Sir David Attenborough, an official Australian-uk co-production that will explore colour in nature.
Per the official synopsis: “Colour makes our world a beautiful place to live in, but there is so much more to it than beauty. As Sir David, the world’s most famous wildlife filmmaker, will illustrate, colour is the amazing way animals both communicate and collaborate – it’s even their language of life and death.”
According to Deadline, the series will be shot on new cameras built specifically for the show.
The series will be produced by Sydney’s SeaLight Films (a subsidiary of Sealight Pictures) and Humble Bee Films, from Bristol, UK. Production on the series has commenced, and Australian filming locations include Adelaide River; Sydney and Thredbo, and around Lizard Island and the Channel Country.
Together with Netflix and the BBC, the Nine Network has co-commissioned three-part series Life In Colour, presented by Sir David Attenborough, an official Australian-uk co-production that will explore colour in nature.
Per the official synopsis: “Colour makes our world a beautiful place to live in, but there is so much more to it than beauty. As Sir David, the world’s most famous wildlife filmmaker, will illustrate, colour is the amazing way animals both communicate and collaborate – it’s even their language of life and death.”
According to Deadline, the series will be shot on new cameras built specifically for the show.
The series will be produced by Sydney’s SeaLight Films (a subsidiary of Sealight Pictures) and Humble Bee Films, from Bristol, UK. Production on the series has commenced, and Australian filming locations include Adelaide River; Sydney and Thredbo, and around Lizard Island and the Channel Country.
- 9/30/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
David Attenborough will light up a new natural history series, “Life in Colour,” for the BBC in the U.K., Nine Network in Australia, and Netflix in the rest of the world. It marks the first time that the BBC is collaborating on a natural-history show with Netflix, which is diving deeper into that space. The streamer came out last year with “Our Planet,” which was fronted by longtime BBC associate Attenborough, and has also ordered an oceans-based natural history series.
In the new series, Attenborough will examine how color is used as a means of communication and cooperation between animals and can also be their language of life and death.
U.K.-based Humble Bee Films and Australia-based SeaLight Pictures are sharing production duties. The Australian part of the shoot is underway and will take in Adelaide, Sydney and Lizard Island.
The series will hit screens in 2021.
“I am...
In the new series, Attenborough will examine how color is used as a means of communication and cooperation between animals and can also be their language of life and death.
U.K.-based Humble Bee Films and Australia-based SeaLight Pictures are sharing production duties. The Australian part of the shoot is underway and will take in Adelaide, Sydney and Lizard Island.
The series will hit screens in 2021.
“I am...
- 9/27/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix and the BBC have teamed up for the first time to make a natural history documentary.
The pair will co-produce three-part series Life In Colour, in which Sir David Attenborough will explore how color plays a vital role in animal interactions using new cameras built specifically for the show.
The documentary is being lined up for a 2021 premiere, meaning Attenborough will be 95 by the time it is released. It is produced by Humble Bee Films, a Bristol-based production company, which recently made Attenborough And The Giant Elephant for BBC One. Sydney-based Sealight Pictures is co-producing with Humble Bee.
Attenborough has a long and illustrious history of working with the BBC, and this year fronted Netflix series Our Planet, made by Silverback Films. Life In Colour will be the first time the BBC and Netflix have collaborated on natural history, while Australia’s Channel 9 is also on board.
The...
The pair will co-produce three-part series Life In Colour, in which Sir David Attenborough will explore how color plays a vital role in animal interactions using new cameras built specifically for the show.
The documentary is being lined up for a 2021 premiere, meaning Attenborough will be 95 by the time it is released. It is produced by Humble Bee Films, a Bristol-based production company, which recently made Attenborough And The Giant Elephant for BBC One. Sydney-based Sealight Pictures is co-producing with Humble Bee.
Attenborough has a long and illustrious history of working with the BBC, and this year fronted Netflix series Our Planet, made by Silverback Films. Life In Colour will be the first time the BBC and Netflix have collaborated on natural history, while Australia’s Channel 9 is also on board.
The...
- 9/27/2019
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Luke Moody said ‘dinosaurs’ of UK TV had narrowed focus of the festival programme.
Luke Moody, director of programming at the UK’s Sheffield Doc/Fest’s has left the festival, blasting the ‘factual TV dinosaurs’ for restricting plurality and ‘putting forward a colonial focus’ on international issues. His departure comes as DocLisboa co-director Cíntia Gil prepares to take on the role of director, succeeding Liz McIntyre.
Moody left the festival team last week, telling the BFI’s Sight & Sound magazine he quit after this year’s festival, blaming the UK factual TV departments’ dominance of the Doc/Fest board,...
Luke Moody, director of programming at the UK’s Sheffield Doc/Fest’s has left the festival, blasting the ‘factual TV dinosaurs’ for restricting plurality and ‘putting forward a colonial focus’ on international issues. His departure comes as DocLisboa co-director Cíntia Gil prepares to take on the role of director, succeeding Liz McIntyre.
Moody left the festival team last week, telling the BFI’s Sight & Sound magazine he quit after this year’s festival, blaming the UK factual TV departments’ dominance of the Doc/Fest board,...
- 7/23/2019
- by Robin Parker Broadcast
- ScreenDaily
The BBC has commissioned a drama about the Novichok poisoning crisis in Salisbury in 2018. “Salisbury” will be a two-part factual drama produced by Dancing Ledge Productions for BBC Two which will focus on the impact of the case on the English city and the community.
The Novichok poisonings dominated national news in Britain for months in 2018 after former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the nerve agent in Salisbury in early March. In late June two Britons, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, came into accidental contact with the nerve agent in Amesbury, seven miles outside Salisbury. Sturgess later died. British authorities named two Russian nationals as suspects in September 2018 who were later identified as members of Russia’s intelligence service the Gru.
The drama, written by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, will tell the story of how ordinary people reacted to the event, displaying...
The Novichok poisonings dominated national news in Britain for months in 2018 after former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the nerve agent in Salisbury in early March. In late June two Britons, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, came into accidental contact with the nerve agent in Amesbury, seven miles outside Salisbury. Sturgess later died. British authorities named two Russian nationals as suspects in September 2018 who were later identified as members of Russia’s intelligence service the Gru.
The drama, written by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, will tell the story of how ordinary people reacted to the event, displaying...
- 5/16/2019
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
The controversial Novichok poisonings in the UK is to be the basis for a drama for the BBC.
Delhi Crime producer Dancing Ledge is making the two-parter, titled Salisbury, for BBC Two. It will tell the story of how ordinary people reacted to the crisis as their city became the focus of an unprecedented national emergency.
The drama is written by McMafia writers Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn. No casting has yet been set for the drama, which was ordered by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two.
It is exec produced by Les Miserables producer Chris Carey and Dancing Ledge boss Laurence Bowen along with Patterson and Lawn and the BBC’s Lucy Richer. Fremantle distributes.
Patterson and Lawn, said, “We feel extremely privileged to be telling this story. Extensive, meticulous research is at the heart of how we like to work and...
Delhi Crime producer Dancing Ledge is making the two-parter, titled Salisbury, for BBC Two. It will tell the story of how ordinary people reacted to the crisis as their city became the focus of an unprecedented national emergency.
The drama is written by McMafia writers Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn. No casting has yet been set for the drama, which was ordered by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two.
It is exec produced by Les Miserables producer Chris Carey and Dancing Ledge boss Laurence Bowen along with Patterson and Lawn and the BBC’s Lucy Richer. Fremantle distributes.
Patterson and Lawn, said, “We feel extremely privileged to be telling this story. Extensive, meticulous research is at the heart of how we like to work and...
- 5/16/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Ai Weiwei, Werner Herzog to particpate in extended conversations following screenings.
A Spotlight section of screenings followed by extended conversations is the major addition to the programme for this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 6-11), revealed today.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and German filmmaker Werner Herzog are among those attending the festival and participating in the section.
Ai Weiwei will present his film The Rest, about Europe’s refugee crisis and the disintegrating humanitarian aid system, which premiered at Cph:Dox in March.
Herzog will take part in a discussion with Patrick Holland, controller, BBC Two, following a...
A Spotlight section of screenings followed by extended conversations is the major addition to the programme for this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 6-11), revealed today.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and German filmmaker Werner Herzog are among those attending the festival and participating in the section.
Ai Weiwei will present his film The Rest, about Europe’s refugee crisis and the disintegrating humanitarian aid system, which premiered at Cph:Dox in March.
Herzog will take part in a discussion with Patrick Holland, controller, BBC Two, following a...
- 5/9/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Game of Thrones star Jamie Sives and Catastrophe star Mark Bonnar are to front a four-part dark crime caper for the BBC.
Guilt, written by Eric, Ernie And Me writer Neil Forsyth, will be the first drama for BBC Scotland’s new digital channel and will then air on BBC Two.
Sives, who starred as Jory Cassel in the HBO drama, and Bonnar play two disparate Scottish brothers Max and Jake who, while driving home from a wedding together one night, accidentally run over and kill an old man on a darkened street. After making the panicked decision to cover their tracks, the brothers seem to get away with their crime. However, as neighbours and relatives of the dead man begin to suspect his death wasn’t as innocent as it initially seemed, the brothers find their lives rapidly falling apart, as their actions begin to catch up with them.
Guilt, written by Eric, Ernie And Me writer Neil Forsyth, will be the first drama for BBC Scotland’s new digital channel and will then air on BBC Two.
Sives, who starred as Jory Cassel in the HBO drama, and Bonnar play two disparate Scottish brothers Max and Jake who, while driving home from a wedding together one night, accidentally run over and kill an old man on a darkened street. After making the panicked decision to cover their tracks, the brothers seem to get away with their crime. However, as neighbours and relatives of the dead man begin to suspect his death wasn’t as innocent as it initially seemed, the brothers find their lives rapidly falling apart, as their actions begin to catch up with them.
- 1/22/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC has ordered “A Tabloid Empire,” a three-part documentary series on Rupert Murdoch’s influence over the British press.
The series will air on BBC Two in the U.K. and examine in detail Britain’s popular press between 1997 and 2012, a period that covers phone hacking and corruption but that also saw Murdoch’s and other papers wielding great influence over politics and society in general.
“House of Assad” producer 72 Films will make the series, which will use archives from the period as well as interviews with key figures from the time. The BBC promised that the series will document “the colorful characters and unrivaled power of those at the top, forensically deconstructing some of the most iconic and infamous moments of modern times.”
Despite closing down the weekly News of the World as a result of the phone-hacking scandal, Murdoch still owns The Times and The Sun in Britain.
The series will air on BBC Two in the U.K. and examine in detail Britain’s popular press between 1997 and 2012, a period that covers phone hacking and corruption but that also saw Murdoch’s and other papers wielding great influence over politics and society in general.
“House of Assad” producer 72 Films will make the series, which will use archives from the period as well as interviews with key figures from the time. The BBC promised that the series will document “the colorful characters and unrivaled power of those at the top, forensically deconstructing some of the most iconic and infamous moments of modern times.”
Despite closing down the weekly News of the World as a result of the phone-hacking scandal, Murdoch still owns The Times and The Sun in Britain.
- 12/12/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
The BBC is to examine Rupert Murdoch’s influence over the British press in a major three-part documentary series.
The British public broadcaster has commissioned A Tabloid Empire (w/t) from Trump: An American Dream producer 72 Films.
The three-part series, which will air on BBC Two, will explore the extraordinary reach of the Murdoch empire across the British press. Covering the period from 1997 to 2012, the series examines how the press went from exerting astonishing influence over British politics and public to being mired in scandal from phone hacking to corruption, culminating in the revelations of the Leveson Enquiry.
The series will use archive and exclusive interviews with those at the center of the story, highlighting the colourful characters and unrivalled power of those at the top.
Executive produced by Cate Hall and David Glover, it was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two and Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning,...
The British public broadcaster has commissioned A Tabloid Empire (w/t) from Trump: An American Dream producer 72 Films.
The three-part series, which will air on BBC Two, will explore the extraordinary reach of the Murdoch empire across the British press. Covering the period from 1997 to 2012, the series examines how the press went from exerting astonishing influence over British politics and public to being mired in scandal from phone hacking to corruption, culminating in the revelations of the Leveson Enquiry.
The series will use archive and exclusive interviews with those at the center of the story, highlighting the colourful characters and unrivalled power of those at the top.
Executive produced by Cate Hall and David Glover, it was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two and Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning,...
- 12/12/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff are joining “Top Gear” as its new hosts for the post-Matt LeBlanc era. Rory Reid will also exit out as a “Top Gear” presenter, though he’ll continue to roll with the franchise as face of companion series “Extra Gear.”
Driver and motorsports journalist Chris Harris will remain in the “Top Gear” driver’s seat when the iconic car show returns to an all-British lineup for Season 27, which is set to air in late 2019.
“Friends” alum LeBlanc previously said he’d be leaving “Top Gear” after the next season, which is No. 26. That one debuts on BBC Two in early 2019, when Season 27 begins production.
Also Read: Matt Le Blanc to Exit BBC's 'Top Gear' After This Year
“This is a thrilling manoeuvre from the ‘Top Gear’ team and I’m relishing what this trio will deliver,” Patrick Holland, controller of BBC Two,...
Driver and motorsports journalist Chris Harris will remain in the “Top Gear” driver’s seat when the iconic car show returns to an all-British lineup for Season 27, which is set to air in late 2019.
“Friends” alum LeBlanc previously said he’d be leaving “Top Gear” after the next season, which is No. 26. That one debuts on BBC Two in early 2019, when Season 27 begins production.
Also Read: Matt Le Blanc to Exit BBC's 'Top Gear' After This Year
“This is a thrilling manoeuvre from the ‘Top Gear’ team and I’m relishing what this trio will deliver,” Patrick Holland, controller of BBC Two,...
- 10/22/2018
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Comedian Paddy McGuinness and former cricket player Freddie Flintoff will replace Matt LeBlanc as presenters on “Top Gear,” the BBC announced Monday. The duo will join driver Chris Harris on the popular motoring show, while Rory Reid is stepping down from the main presenting lineup.
Season 27 of the series, which airs on BBC Two, will begin production in early 2019, with broadcast expected later in the year.
“This is a thrilling maneuver from the ‘Top Gear team,’ and I’m relishing what this trio will deliver,” said Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two. “Both Paddy and Freddie love their cars, but more than that, they’ll bring a new energy and competitive spirit to ‘Top Gear.'”
LeBlanc’s departure from the show was announced in May, paving the way for yet another reboot for “Top Gear” amid tumbling ratings. The “Friends” star and Chris Evans formed the first team that replaced longtime hosts Jeremy Clarkson,...
Season 27 of the series, which airs on BBC Two, will begin production in early 2019, with broadcast expected later in the year.
“This is a thrilling maneuver from the ‘Top Gear team,’ and I’m relishing what this trio will deliver,” said Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two. “Both Paddy and Freddie love their cars, but more than that, they’ll bring a new energy and competitive spirit to ‘Top Gear.'”
LeBlanc’s departure from the show was announced in May, paving the way for yet another reboot for “Top Gear” amid tumbling ratings. The “Friends” star and Chris Evans formed the first team that replaced longtime hosts Jeremy Clarkson,...
- 10/22/2018
- by Henry Chu and Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
The BBC has signed up British entertainers Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff to replace Matt LeBlanc as the hosts of global motoring format Top Gear.
This comes after the former Friends star revealed that he would be leaving Top Gear after the next series of the BBC Studios-produced show. The 26th season of the show, which airs on BBC2 in the UK and BBC America in the U.S., is set to start filming later this year and will run in early 2019, while the 27th season of the show, which will feature the new pair will film in early 2019 for a debut later in the year.
McGuinness and Flintoff will join Chris Harris on the show, while Rory Reid is set to be transferred to spin-off Extra Gear with the BBC promising a bigger digital presence for the show.
McGuinness is the star of ITV dating format Take Me Out...
This comes after the former Friends star revealed that he would be leaving Top Gear after the next series of the BBC Studios-produced show. The 26th season of the show, which airs on BBC2 in the UK and BBC America in the U.S., is set to start filming later this year and will run in early 2019, while the 27th season of the show, which will feature the new pair will film in early 2019 for a debut later in the year.
McGuinness and Flintoff will join Chris Harris on the show, while Rory Reid is set to be transferred to spin-off Extra Gear with the BBC promising a bigger digital presence for the show.
McGuinness is the star of ITV dating format Take Me Out...
- 10/22/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
BBC has detailed David Bowie: The First Five Years, the third installment in a documentary trilogy covering the late icon’s career, which will premiere in 2019.
The upcoming film, arriving in the vicinity of Space Oddity‘s 50th anniversary, will provide an in-depth overview into Bowie’s early career, from the David Jones era to the dawn of Ziggy Stardust.
The First Five Years follows 2013’s Five Years, about five fruitful years in Bowie’s career, and 2017’s The Last Five Years, which covered the productive period toward the...
The upcoming film, arriving in the vicinity of Space Oddity‘s 50th anniversary, will provide an in-depth overview into Bowie’s early career, from the David Jones era to the dawn of Ziggy Stardust.
The First Five Years follows 2013’s Five Years, about five fruitful years in Bowie’s career, and 2017’s The Last Five Years, which covered the productive period toward the...
- 10/9/2018
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
The first five years of David Bowie’s career is to be the focus of a new documentary for the BBC – the third in a trilogy of docs about the Star Man singer.
David Bowie: The First Five Years will launch on the British public broadcaster’s BBC Two channel in 2019. It follows David Bowie: The Last Five Years, which was acquired by HBO, and David Bowie: Five Years in 2013. All three are produced and directed by Francis Whately.
Coming 50 years after the release of Space Oddity, the 90-minute film explores the Bowie before Ziggy Stardust, following the period from 1966 when he changed his name from David Jones to Bowie.
It includes footage from the BBC Archives including footage of a BBC audition in 1965 of David Bowie and the Lower Third, which included a performance of Chim-Chim-Cheree and Baby That’s A Promise.
David Bowie: The First Five Years will also feature unheard audio recordings,...
David Bowie: The First Five Years will launch on the British public broadcaster’s BBC Two channel in 2019. It follows David Bowie: The Last Five Years, which was acquired by HBO, and David Bowie: Five Years in 2013. All three are produced and directed by Francis Whately.
Coming 50 years after the release of Space Oddity, the 90-minute film explores the Bowie before Ziggy Stardust, following the period from 1966 when he changed his name from David Jones to Bowie.
It includes footage from the BBC Archives including footage of a BBC audition in 1965 of David Bowie and the Lower Third, which included a performance of Chim-Chim-Cheree and Baby That’s A Promise.
David Bowie: The First Five Years will also feature unheard audio recordings,...
- 10/8/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC has released first-look images of stars Jamie Dornan and Matthew Rhys in its upcoming drama “Death and Nightingales.” The three-part show marks a reunion for Dornan with writer-director Allan Cubitt, with whom he previously worked on crime drama “The Fall” between 2013 and 2016.
Adapted by Cubitt from a 1992 novel by Eugene McCabe, “Death and Nightingales” is set in Northern Ireland in 1885. It tells a story of love, betrayal, deception and revenge that follows a young woman’s struggles to control her own destiny. The action takes place over a 24-hour period during which Beth Winters, played by Ann Skelly, decides on her 23rd birthday to escape her limited life and difficult relationship with her landowner stepfather (Rhys) with the aid of the charming Liam Ward (Dornan).
“Death and Nightingales” is produced by Imaginarium Productions and Soho Moon for BBC Two and is expected to air later this year. It...
Adapted by Cubitt from a 1992 novel by Eugene McCabe, “Death and Nightingales” is set in Northern Ireland in 1885. It tells a story of love, betrayal, deception and revenge that follows a young woman’s struggles to control her own destiny. The action takes place over a 24-hour period during which Beth Winters, played by Ann Skelly, decides on her 23rd birthday to escape her limited life and difficult relationship with her landowner stepfather (Rhys) with the aid of the charming Liam Ward (Dornan).
“Death and Nightingales” is produced by Imaginarium Productions and Soho Moon for BBC Two and is expected to air later this year. It...
- 8/14/2018
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: BBC Two has ordered an adaptation of This is Going to Hurt, a funny medical memoir from former junior doctor Adam Kay.
The eight-part comedy drama, which tells of life on the hospital ward, is produced by Jane Featherstone’s Sister Pictures and comes after the indie production company optioned the novel at the end of last year.
Set on labour ward, it documents the heart-lifting highs and gut-wrenching lows, offering a brutally honest depiction of life as a junior doctor and the toll the job can take back home. Kay scribbled his diaries in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, and tells of the 97-hour weeks, the life and death decisions, the constant tsunami of bodily fluids and the fact the hospital parking meter earns more than doctors.
The book, which was published in September, is a Sunday Times number one bestseller and has subsequently been translated in 20 languages.
The eight-part comedy drama, which tells of life on the hospital ward, is produced by Jane Featherstone’s Sister Pictures and comes after the indie production company optioned the novel at the end of last year.
Set on labour ward, it documents the heart-lifting highs and gut-wrenching lows, offering a brutally honest depiction of life as a junior doctor and the toll the job can take back home. Kay scribbled his diaries in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, and tells of the 97-hour weeks, the life and death decisions, the constant tsunami of bodily fluids and the fact the hospital parking meter earns more than doctors.
The book, which was published in September, is a Sunday Times number one bestseller and has subsequently been translated in 20 languages.
- 7/6/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: The UK has a long history of producing hit property shows such as Kevin McCloud’s Grand Designs and Phil and Kirstie’s Location, Location, Location. The BBC is now moving into the virtual reality-led future with its latest format in the genre.
I understand that the British public broadcaster has ordered Watch This Space from Endemol Shine’s Remarkable Television. For the first time on British television, cutting edge Vr technology and visual effects will be used in a property format, transforming ordinary homes with unique designs.
Hosted by Robot Wars’ Angela Scanlon, the eight-part series, which will air on BBC Two, will see two couples who disagree about the best designs for their home work with architects Laura Clark and Robert Jamison. The pair will produce two conflicting briefs and then the homeowners will be able to “step into” the redesigned properties using the Vr tech. Through...
I understand that the British public broadcaster has ordered Watch This Space from Endemol Shine’s Remarkable Television. For the first time on British television, cutting edge Vr technology and visual effects will be used in a property format, transforming ordinary homes with unique designs.
Hosted by Robot Wars’ Angela Scanlon, the eight-part series, which will air on BBC Two, will see two couples who disagree about the best designs for their home work with architects Laura Clark and Robert Jamison. The pair will produce two conflicting briefs and then the homeowners will be able to “step into” the redesigned properties using the Vr tech. Through...
- 6/28/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
FX drama Trust is heading to the BBC in the UK after Sky dropped the Donald Sutherland-fronted U.S. acquisition ahead of its debut.
The British public broadcaster is to air the series, which tells the story of the true-life kidnapping of the heir to billionaire John Paul Getty, later this year after striking a deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. It comes after pay-tv broadcaster Sky, which announced earlier this year that it had picked up the ten-part series, came to an agreement with the Hollywood studio’s distribution division not to air it in the UK and Germany.
Inspired by actual events, Trust delves into the trials and triumphs of one of America’s wealthiest and unhappiest families, the Gettys. The series begins in 1973 with the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, an heir to the Getty oil fortune, by the Italian mafia in Rome. Donald...
The British public broadcaster is to air the series, which tells the story of the true-life kidnapping of the heir to billionaire John Paul Getty, later this year after striking a deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. It comes after pay-tv broadcaster Sky, which announced earlier this year that it had picked up the ten-part series, came to an agreement with the Hollywood studio’s distribution division not to air it in the UK and Germany.
Inspired by actual events, Trust delves into the trials and triumphs of one of America’s wealthiest and unhappiest families, the Gettys. The series begins in 1973 with the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, an heir to the Getty oil fortune, by the Italian mafia in Rome. Donald...
- 6/26/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC is going inside the Bank of England and exploring gun crime in Britain in a series of factual commissions. The public broadcaster has also picked up feature doc Under The Wire, which tells the story of Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin and photographer Paul Conroy’s mission to Syria.
The shows were revealed at the Sheffield Doc/Fest by Alison Kirkham, Controller BBC Factual Commissioning.
Inside The Bank of England (w/t) lets cameras inside the financial institution throughout 2018 as Governor Mark Carney and his staff try to revive the UK economy. The two-part series, which will air on BBC Two, will look at how the bank’s decisions impact people’s lives and aims to demystify central banking and explores the gold and incredible architecture of the fortress-like Threadneedle Street building. The series is produced by Gold Rush producer Raw and was commissioned by BBC Two Controller Patrick Holland,...
The shows were revealed at the Sheffield Doc/Fest by Alison Kirkham, Controller BBC Factual Commissioning.
Inside The Bank of England (w/t) lets cameras inside the financial institution throughout 2018 as Governor Mark Carney and his staff try to revive the UK economy. The two-part series, which will air on BBC Two, will look at how the bank’s decisions impact people’s lives and aims to demystify central banking and explores the gold and incredible architecture of the fortress-like Threadneedle Street building. The series is produced by Gold Rush producer Raw and was commissioned by BBC Two Controller Patrick Holland,...
- 6/11/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC will air U.S. documentary series “Inside The New York Times: The Fourth Estate” later this month. The four-part documentary was made for U.S. premium cabler Showtime and follows the workings of the prestigious paper through the first 12 months of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Trump has taken aim at the paper, often referring to it as “the failing New York Times.” Oscar-nominated Liz Garbus made the series, which, as well as looking at the relationship with the president, delves into reporting in the digital age and the round-the-clock news cycle.
British pubcaster the BBC will put the show out on its BBC Two channel. It bowed on Showtime in May.
The first episode of the series was the closing-night selection of the Tribeca Film Festival. In its review, Variety said the “inside look at how The New York Times covers the Trump presidency will please news junkies,...
Trump has taken aim at the paper, often referring to it as “the failing New York Times.” Oscar-nominated Liz Garbus made the series, which, as well as looking at the relationship with the president, delves into reporting in the digital age and the round-the-clock news cycle.
British pubcaster the BBC will put the show out on its BBC Two channel. It bowed on Showtime in May.
The first episode of the series was the closing-night selection of the Tribeca Film Festival. In its review, Variety said the “inside look at how The New York Times covers the Trump presidency will please news junkies,...
- 6/7/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
The New York Times is heading to the UK after BBC Two picked up the rights to Showtime documentary series The Fourth Estate.
The British public broadcaster will air Liz Garbus’ four-part series later this month after its launch on the premium U.S. cable network last month.
The Fourth Estate looks at the inner workings of the gray lady during the first 12 months of Donald Trump’s presidency. It follows journalists including Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush as well as editor Dean Baquet covering Trump’s inauguration, accusations of fake news as well as major stories about the Russia investigation. The doc also looks at how the New York Times is changing, launching the Daily podcast, and responding to the challenges of being a digital publication.
The series was produced and directed by Garbus and Jenny Carchman and is a Radical Media and Moxie Firecracker Films Production in association...
The British public broadcaster will air Liz Garbus’ four-part series later this month after its launch on the premium U.S. cable network last month.
The Fourth Estate looks at the inner workings of the gray lady during the first 12 months of Donald Trump’s presidency. It follows journalists including Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush as well as editor Dean Baquet covering Trump’s inauguration, accusations of fake news as well as major stories about the Russia investigation. The doc also looks at how the New York Times is changing, launching the Daily podcast, and responding to the challenges of being a digital publication.
The series was produced and directed by Garbus and Jenny Carchman and is a Radical Media and Moxie Firecracker Films Production in association...
- 6/7/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley), Sinéad Cusack (Call the Midwife) and Paul Ready (The Terror) are among those joining Richard Gere, Helen McCrory and Billy Howle in Tom Rob Smith’s eight-part drama for BBC Two, MotherFatherSon.
As previously announced, Gere — in his first major TV drama role — will star alongside McCrory and Howle as the family at the heart of the series. The trio will be joined by BAFTA winner Lancashire as Angela Howard, a brilliant businesswoman-turned-mp and Leader of the Opposition, while Cusack and Ready will play Maggie and Nick, renegade journalists from the London-based newspaper that Max (Gere) owns.
Pippa Bennett-Warner (Harlots) has been cast as Lauren, a senior executive with the company and trusted adviser to Max. Danny Sapani (Black Panther) will play Jahan Zakari, the first Muslim Prime Minister of the UK, with Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones) cast as Scott, an enigmatic and damaged...
As previously announced, Gere — in his first major TV drama role — will star alongside McCrory and Howle as the family at the heart of the series. The trio will be joined by BAFTA winner Lancashire as Angela Howard, a brilliant businesswoman-turned-mp and Leader of the Opposition, while Cusack and Ready will play Maggie and Nick, renegade journalists from the London-based newspaper that Max (Gere) owns.
Pippa Bennett-Warner (Harlots) has been cast as Lauren, a senior executive with the company and trusted adviser to Max. Danny Sapani (Black Panther) will play Jahan Zakari, the first Muslim Prime Minister of the UK, with Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones) cast as Scott, an enigmatic and damaged...
- 6/6/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Toby Stephens, Keeley Hawes, Linus Roache and Timothy Spall will lead the cast of the BBC’s Cold War drama “Summer of Rockets.” Shooting is now underway around London and Oxford on the six-part drama, which is written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff.
The BBC has released a first-look image from the production featuring Stephens (pictured), who plays a 40-something Russian Jewish émigré, an inventor and designer of custom hearing aids. He is approached by British intelligence service MI5 and tasked with a secret mission to obtain information about a British government minister (Roache) and his wife (Hawes), whom he has recently befriended.
Set in Britain in 1958, when the country tested its first hydrogen bomb, the semi-autobiographical series is described by executive producer Helen Flint as being “hinged at the pivotal point of world history where the past and future are pulling in equal strength, and human beings, young and old,...
The BBC has released a first-look image from the production featuring Stephens (pictured), who plays a 40-something Russian Jewish émigré, an inventor and designer of custom hearing aids. He is approached by British intelligence service MI5 and tasked with a secret mission to obtain information about a British government minister (Roache) and his wife (Hawes), whom he has recently befriended.
Set in Britain in 1958, when the country tested its first hydrogen bomb, the semi-autobiographical series is described by executive producer Helen Flint as being “hinged at the pivotal point of world history where the past and future are pulling in equal strength, and human beings, young and old,...
- 5/14/2018
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Toby Stephens (Black Sails), Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty), Linus Roache (Homeland) and Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner) have been set to star in writer-director Stephen Poliakoff’s (Dancing on the Edge) semi-autobiographical BBC Two drama Summer of Rockets, which is underway.
The six-episode hourlong series is set in the UK during the Cold War period of the late 1950s, a time when the UK, like much of the world, was dealing with the threat of international espionage and nuclear armageddon.
Helen Flint (Patrick Melrose) will executive produce for Little Island Productions and Lucy Richer for the BBC. The drama was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two, and Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and will be distributed internationally by BBC Studios. Filming has begun in and around London and Oxford.
The series follows Samuel, a 40-something Russian Jewish émigré,...
The six-episode hourlong series is set in the UK during the Cold War period of the late 1950s, a time when the UK, like much of the world, was dealing with the threat of international espionage and nuclear armageddon.
Helen Flint (Patrick Melrose) will executive produce for Little Island Productions and Lucy Richer for the BBC. The drama was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two, and Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and will be distributed internationally by BBC Studios. Filming has begun in and around London and Oxford.
The series follows Samuel, a 40-something Russian Jewish émigré,...
- 5/14/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC is looking to kick out against the “crushing competition” of global Svod services including Netflix and Amazon as it eyes a reboot of its aborted digital service Project Kangaroo and steps up its PR war against Silicon Valley.
It has emerged that the British public broadcaster is once again in talks with rival broadcasters including ITV and Channel 4, as well as Hollywood studio NBC Universal, to launch its own UK streaming service to fight back against the deep-pocketed digital players.
The move comes nearly ten years after Project Kangaroo, a planned video-on-demand between the broadcasters and the BBC’s commercial arm, was blocked by the British Competition Commission.
However, with Netflix now having over 8M subscribers in the country and Amazon Prime Video over 4M, and with the looming launch of Apple’s A-list original programming plans, the broadcasters are looking to bounce back.
This is merely...
It has emerged that the British public broadcaster is once again in talks with rival broadcasters including ITV and Channel 4, as well as Hollywood studio NBC Universal, to launch its own UK streaming service to fight back against the deep-pocketed digital players.
The move comes nearly ten years after Project Kangaroo, a planned video-on-demand between the broadcasters and the BBC’s commercial arm, was blocked by the British Competition Commission.
However, with Netflix now having over 8M subscribers in the country and Amazon Prime Video over 4M, and with the looming launch of Apple’s A-list original programming plans, the broadcasters are looking to bounce back.
This is merely...
- 5/8/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC is heading to Bollywood with a two-part documentary exploring the world’s largest film industry. Strictly Come Dancing star Anita Rani is to present Bollywood: The World’s Biggest Film Industry for the British public broadcaster.
The film will at the world of Indian cinema, which is the world’s largest film industry in terms of film production with an annual output of around 2,000 films per year. She will meet a number of big-screen idols and discovers how an industry based on centuries old traditions is racing to keep up with the changing tastes of one of the youngest countries on earth.
It will discover how Bollywood sells an estimated 3.6B tickets annually across the globe and Rani will meet a new generation of westerners drawn to India by the sheer volume of films made there each year. She’ll discover the rich history and traditions behind the dance numbers,...
The film will at the world of Indian cinema, which is the world’s largest film industry in terms of film production with an annual output of around 2,000 films per year. She will meet a number of big-screen idols and discovers how an industry based on centuries old traditions is racing to keep up with the changing tastes of one of the youngest countries on earth.
It will discover how Bollywood sells an estimated 3.6B tickets annually across the globe and Rani will meet a new generation of westerners drawn to India by the sheer volume of films made there each year. She’ll discover the rich history and traditions behind the dance numbers,...
- 4/22/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Almost four decades after Margaret Thatcher rose to power as Britain’s first female prime minister, the BBC has ordered a landmark documentary series on the iconic and divisive leader. “Thatcher,” a five-hour look at the politician dubbed the “Iron Lady,” will go out on BBC Two in the U.K.
BBC Studios will sell “Thatcher” internationally. The series will tell the story of how a young girl from a modest English market town, who trained as a chemist, became a world leader. Thatcher served as premier from 1979 to 1990, and died in 2013.
Spanning five one-hour installments, the documentary will provide a social history of modern Britain. British pubcaster the BBC promises “a front-row seat as Thatcher rides the tumultuous tides of public support through three election victories, as the nation yo-yos and divides itself between soaring adulation and violent unrest.”
The show will also examine the legacy of a Conservative...
BBC Studios will sell “Thatcher” internationally. The series will tell the story of how a young girl from a modest English market town, who trained as a chemist, became a world leader. Thatcher served as premier from 1979 to 1990, and died in 2013.
Spanning five one-hour installments, the documentary will provide a social history of modern Britain. British pubcaster the BBC promises “a front-row seat as Thatcher rides the tumultuous tides of public support through three election victories, as the nation yo-yos and divides itself between soaring adulation and violent unrest.”
The show will also examine the legacy of a Conservative...
- 4/18/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
BBC Two is striving to be "ever more timely, challenging and mischievous," said Controller Patrick Holland this morning here at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. With that, he set out upcoming projects, including the acquisition of John Singleton's La-set period drama Snowfall, and confirmed the return of The League Of Gentlemen. Iconic black comedy The League Of Gentlemen has been slated for a special three-episode run later this year to commemorate the…...
- 8/23/2017
- Deadline TV
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