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Sky Studios has hired former BBC Studios drama head Priscilla Parish to join it in-house creative team.

Parish will join UK director of original series Meghan Lyver’s team as senior executive producer as the studio looks to build out its slate of new and returning scripted titles.

In her role, Parish will work with third-party indies as well as Sky’s production team to oversee the creation of Sky original titles. She takes up her position this month, reporting into Lyvers.

Parish joins having previously served as head of drama at Bbcs for four years before standing down last November.

Nicola Shindler, CEO of Quay Street Production and the producer of such acclaimed British series as It’s A Sin, Queer as Folk and Happy Valley, has been named the recipient of this year’s Woman in Series award by international television festival Series Mania.

Series Mania founder and general director Laurence Herszberg and Francesco Capurro, director of the festival’s industry section, the Series Mania Forum, unveiled the news on Wednesday, timed to International Women’s Day.

The Women in Series award, presented in association with female professionals associations the European Women’s Audiovisual Network and Pour Les Femmes Dans Les Médias, honors the vision and leadership of “a remarkable woman from the audiovisual industry.” Shindler will receive the prize at a gala ceremony in Lille, France on March 21.

A prolific producer, Shindler has been a driving force in high-end British drama for decades. She’s worked with the likes of Russell T. Davies,...

A drama exploring the collapse of Barings Bank and the man at the center of the scandal, trader Nick Leeson, is in the works at All3Media-backed Story Films.

The four-part drama “The Man Who Broke The Bank” (working title) for an as yet unnamed major U.K. broadcaster, charts the meteoric rise and fall of the plasterer’s son from Watford who secretly hid losses of more than £800 million (then 1.4 billion) in the early to mid-1990s in Singapore, leading to the collapse of one of Britain’s oldest merchant banks.

It is based on research from multiple books and archive and archive and first person accounts, including recent dialogue with Leeson himself, by BAFTA winning writer Tony Marchant.

Story Films’ recent true life dramas include recent acclaimed series “The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe” for ITV, which dramatized the story of infamous conman John Darwin, and “Deceit” for Channel 4,...

Shindler launched Red in 1998 and has been Cco of Studiocanal since March.

UK film and TV producder Nicola Shindler is leaving Red Production Company to launch a scripted label with ITV Studios.

The multi Bafta award-winning Shindler will launch the as-yet-unnamed Manchester-based label in 2021 and develop and produce premium drama for the UK and international market.

Shindler founded Red in 1998 and sold a majority stake to Studiocanal in 2013. Earlier this year, she was appointed chief creative officer of Studiocanal, while remaining responsible for Red, having previously acted as chief executive of StudioCanal UK.

She will remain in post at Studiocanal...

U.K. super-producer Nicola Shindler is to step down from her production company Red, and launch a scripted label under ITV Studios. Based in Manchester, the new firm will develop and produce premium drama for the U.K. and international market.

Shindler, who most recently served as chief creative officer of London-based Studiocanal U.K., will join ITV Studios and launch her new company in 2021, though it’s still unclear when in the year she will join. International distribution for Shindler’s new label will be handled by ITV Studios.

The new venture effectively brings to a close Shindler’s relationship with Studiocanal, which took a majority stake in Shindler’s production company Red in 2013. She became CEO of Studiocanal U.K. in 2018, but stepped into the chief creative officer role earlier this year after Entertainment One executive Alex Hamilton was made CEO of the U.K. operation.

Variety has...

Hulu has snagged U.S. rights to “Butterfly,” the family drama about separated parents who disagree over how to deal with their youngest child, Max, who was born a boy but identifies as a girl.

The series was commissioned by ITV in the U.K. “Marcella” star Anna Friel plays Max’s mother, Vicky, and Emmett J. Scanlon his father, Stephen. Callum Booth-Ford plays Max in the miniseries, which also stars Alison Steadman.

The series was produced by Studiocanal’s Red Production Company and Aenon. It was created and written by BAFTA-winning screenwriter Tony Marchant.

Fremantle handles distribution and sealed the U.S. deal. It aired in the fall in Britain and will bow on Hulu in the U.S. on Jan. 18.

International Emmy winner Friel is a familiar face on U.S. screens via “Marcella,” which plays on Netflix. She also starred in “Pushing Daisies,” the ABC series created by Bryan Fuller.

Hulu has come on board Anna Friel-fronted British drama Butterfly after a deal with Fremantle. The U.S. streaming service will launch the three-part mini-series on January 18.

Fronted by the Marcella star, Butterfly is penned by The Secret Agent writer Tony Marchant. It tells the story of the complex relationship between separated parents, Vicky, played by Friel and Stephen, played by Emmett J. Scanlan, and their division in opinion over how to support their youngest child, Max, played by Callum Booth-Ford. From a young age, Max has identified as a girl but has tried to suppress these feelings in an attempt to earn Stephen’s approval.

The show is produced by Red Production Company and Adam Kemp’s Aenon for ITV. Nicola Shindler, Caroline Hollick and Adam Kemp are executive producers on the show, which launched in the UK in October.

Caroline Kusser, Svp, Distribution Us, International, Fremantle said,...

Canadian national broadcaster CBC has picked up drama series Butterfly, starring Anna Friel (Marcella), from Fremantle.

The Red Productions mini-series, which follows the story of an 11-year old boy who wants to live life as a girl, will launch on CBC in late winter 2019. Created and penned by BAFTA-winning screenwriter Tony Marchant (The Mark Of Cain) also stars Emmett J. Scanlan and Callum Booth-Ford.

Michela Di Mondo, Svp Distribution, Canada, International, Fremantle, said, “Butterfly is an incredibly raw and emotive drama that tackles the difficult issues surrounding gender dysphoria. We are proud to be partnering with CBC to bring the drama to Canada and are confident viewers will be moved by the standout story and the powerful performances from the outstanding cast.”

The drama was commissioned by ITV and produced by Red Production Company and Aenon. Nicola Shindler, Caroline Hollick and Adam Kemp are executive producers. Fremantle has global distribution rights.

British TV veteran Nicola Shindler (“Happy Valley”) has been appointed CEO of Studiocanal’s U.K. office following the departure of Danny Perkins earlier this year. Shindler currently runs the Studiocanal-owned Red Production Company, which she founded in 1998.

In her new role at Studiocanal UK in London, Shindler will be in charge of setting up and spearheading a new in-house film production arm to develop British films, tapping into the U.K.’s vast talent pool. Studiocanal recently launched an in-house production banner in France and is preparing to bow one in Germany.

Shindler will work closely with Ron Halpern, who will continue to head third-party productions around the world, including in the U.K.

Shindler, who will start her new position on Oct. 1, will report to Didier Lupfer. She will also retain her position as CEO of Red Production Company, where Richard Fee, Michaela Fereday and Jemma Rogers will...

Exclusive: Leading UK TV producer Nicola Shindler, founder of Red Production Company, is to become CEO of Studiocanal UK following the departure of long-time UK boss Danny Perkins.

Shindler will join from October 1 and will report to Studiocanal CEO Didier Lupfer. Maxime Saada, CEO of the Canal Plus Group and Studiocanal Chairman, just announced the hire to staff in London.

This is a semi appointment-from-within given that Vivendi-owned Studiocanal has owned a majority stake in Red since 2013. The highly-decorated Shindler will continue to oversee Red, where she has produced BAFTA-winning TV dramas including Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax. Her most recent feature was 2012 crime-drama Blood with Paul Bettany and Mark Strong.

In her new position at Studiocanal, Shindler will be tasked with setting up and running a new in-house film production arm developing British features. Studiocanal has a similar operation in France and is initiating the same in Germany.

Wearing produced Boys from the Blackstuff, Pride and Prejudice, Edge of Darkness and many more.

Michael Wearing, producer of iconic television dramas including Boys from the Blackstuff and Edge of Darkness, has died aged 78 (reports Broadcast).

Wearing (right), who held a number of senior positions across drama at the BBC, died on Friday 5 May following a stroke. Wearing is survived by his three children, Sadie, Ella and Ben.

After studying anthropology at Newcastle University and a short career in the theatre, Wearing joined the BBC’s English regions drama department as a script editor in 1976.

Reporting to David Rose, who went on to become founder of Film 4, at the BBC’s Pebble Mill base in Birmingham, Wearing worked with writers including Alan Bleasdale and Ron Hutchinson on a number of Play for Today scripts.

He also worked on series including Stephen Davis’ Trouble With Gregory, which aired as part of BBC2’s Playhouse strand, Hutchinson’s six-part...

Laurence Bowen’s London-based Dancing Ledge Productions has entered into a deal with publisher HarperCollins to adapt the novels of Alistair MacLean as event TV series. The first project under the pact is San Andreas, a thriller set on board a torpedoed Ww II hospital ship. Tony Marchant (The Secret Agent) is adapting. HarperCollins owns the rights to bestselling author MacLean’s novels which also include The Guns Of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare. Each…...

The BBC has announced its upcoming new drama series for 2015.

Head of Drama Ben Stephenson revealed at an event last night (November 19) that several new dramas will be shown next year, along with the previously announced SS-gb, The Dresser, Undercover, and the return of Top of the Lake and a new Luther miniseries.

One of Us will be a modern thriller set in the Scottish Highlands and Edinburgh, and is written by The Missing's Harry and Jack Williams.

The four-part series revolves around a double murder which shatters two families living next to each other, and focuses on the relatives as they grieve their losses and deal with the consequences.

The writers said: "We're excited to be telling a modern-day parable that explores big themes and ideas through the lens of a very personal, character-driven story".

Cuffs will be an eight-part cop drama from Julie Gearey (Prisoners' Wives), airing on BBC One.

London-based Headline Pictures, the outfit behind Quartet and The Invisible Woman, has revealed further details of its slate of high end TV dramas.

One of the company’s long gestating projects, Philip K Dick adaptation The Man In The High Castle, is now shooting in Seattle.

Headline has partnered with Amazon Studios, which is wholly funding the project, and is being filmed in the first instance as a pilot.

This will be broadcast in December and a decision will be taken as to whether a 10-part series will follow.

The drama, set in an alternate future in which Germany and Japan won the Second World War, is scripted by Frank Spotnitz and is being directed by David Semel.

The Man In The High Castle has been put together as a production between Scott Free, Headline Pictures and Electric Shepherd, the production arm of the Philip K. Dick estate.

“Headline created this show, secured the rights...

Exclusive: Origin Pictures, Paines Plough, BBC Films launch writing scheme

Origin Pictures is teaming with theatre company Paines Plough on a scheme to develop playwrights’ screen-writing skills.

Origin, producers of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and TV series Jamaica Inn, is launching the scheme with backing from its BFI Vision Award and in collaboration with BBC Films.

The partnership will support four playwrights in their writing across film and theatre over six months through workshops, mentoring and editorial support.

The selected writers are Alia Bano, Stacey Gregg, Ali Taylor and Alexandra Wood.

Bano won the Charles Wintour Award in 2009 for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Awards for her play Shades, which ran at the Royal Court that year. Her play Gap was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their Connections 2011 season.

Wood, whose plays include The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court), The Lion’s Mouth (Rough Cuts/Royal Court), Unbroken (Gate Theatre), Decade (co-writer/Headlong...

In her latest film Helen McCrory is once again playing a mature woman with a youthful lover. And why not, she asks? Though in real life, they'd have to fight off her husband, Damian Lewis, aka Brody from Homeland…

It's a good thing in an actor to know how to make an entrance, and Helen McCrory does. She arrives late – dashing in every sense. It's not possible to walk into a room unobserved wearing a coat like hers: the colour of wet sand, with fur cuffs and lapels. Nor can it pass uncommented upon. Is it as comfortable as it is beautiful? "Comfortable on me as it was on the fox," she says, with an air of self-mocking defiance, shrugging inside it: "It's from Paris," she adds, settling into the red leather corner banquette in Colbert, Sloane Square – a cafe engaged in a more doomed attempt than hers at recalling Paris.

ITV's new drama Leaving has cast Helen McCrory and newcomer Callum Turner in lead roles. The three-part series - from Public Enemies and Garrow's Law writer Tony Marchant - was first announced in January. Leaving will focus on the relationship between disillusioned 25-year-old Aaron (Turner) and unhappy 45-year-old wife and mother Julie (McCrory). When the pair begin working together at a Cheshire country house hotel, they share an intimate moment which takes them both by surprise and must face the consequences of their actions. McCrory's recent credits include the role of Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and BBC Four's Jean Shrimpton biopic We'll Take Manhattan. She and (more)...

Screenterrier posted the casting call for new Cbbc series Postcode back in May last year, and now the series is about to hit our screens.

Postcode stars a line-up of new talent:

Rwanda-born 17 year old Roger Nsengiyumva, from Norwich, who made his screen debut last year in feature film Africa United takes the lead role of Jamal. He is joined by newcomer Manpreet Bambra (represented by Kelly Management) as female lead Sheela and another newcomer 17 year old Robert Eades from London stars as Zak.

The three-part drama, written by the BAFTA-winning screenwriter Tony Marchant, follows a group of young people with diverse backgrounds who share a postcode – but very little else.

In the first episode of the three-part drama, viewers meet Jamal, a Somali refugee from the local estate, and Zac, who lives in a posh house just around the corner.

When their paths cross by accident at the local Mini Mart,...

Daniel Mays is a familiar face thanks to roles in TV series such as Ashes To Ashes and the Bafta-nominated British movie Made In Dagenham with Andrea Riseborough, Bob Hoskins and Geraldine James.

He also has a role in Steven Spielberg's upcoming The Adventures of Tintin, released in October.

Away from showbusiness, he supports Leyton Orient Fc and has a young son called Mylo.

We will next see him on screen as Alex, the father of George, a frightened little boy at the centre of Doctor Who episode Night Terrors, which airs on Saturday, September 3 at 7pm. Here's what he had to say...(warning: there are some spoilers about the episode in Daniel's answers)

Tell Us A Little About Night Terrors...

It's a contemporary story set in a tower block about George, an incredibly nervous young chap of eight who seems to be absolutely petrified of everything. He can't sleep,...

Filming started this week on new Cbbc drama Postcode. You can check out the casting call Screenterrier posted for this series back in May here.

Written by BAFTA-winning writer Tony Marchant, the specially-commissioned, three-part drama, is being filmed entirely on location in South London.

It's a contemporary, urban drama set in a neighbourhood in transition – a cosmopolitan melting pot where kids from well-heeled families live side-by-side with asylum seekers, Postcode will chart the ups and downs of a diverse set of characters as they rub shoulders on a daily basis.

Rwanda-born 17 year old Roger Nsengiyumva, from Norwich, who made his screen debut last year in feature film Africa United takes the lead role of Jamal.

He is joined by newcomer Manpreet Bambra as female lead Sheela, alongside Sebastian Nanena, who recently filmed Twenty8K.

Newcomer 17 year old Robert Eades from London plays Zak, with 15 year old Alice Sykes (represented by Troika) as his younger sister Alice.

Casting Director Kerrie Mailey is looking for the following roles in a brand new series:

Sheela (Female)Sheela is aged 14 / 15 and Asian

But Must Be Over 16 Playing Down.

She is a strong character who wants to see the best of everyone.

Zak (Male)Zak is 14 / 15 But Again Please Only Suggest Over 16.

Again this is a lead role.

He is middle class and is not used to the world of gangs.

He tries to see the best in everyone and becomes friends with Jamal

Any Ethnicity At This Stage

Jamal (Male)Jamal Is 14 / 15 and Somalian.

Please Only Suggest Actors 16+ That Play Down.

This is the lead and the story is about him and Zak.

He is tough but sensitive.

He struggles with gang culture and immigration.

Hassan (Male)Hassan is Jamal's younger Brother so Must Be Somalian.

He has a good understanding of English and is an intelligent boy.

Hassan is...

Tony Marchant has signed up to write a new drama about the probation service for BBC One. The Guardian says that Marchant, who previously wrote Holding On and The Mark Of Cain, will pen Public Enemies. The show focuses on the relationship between Eddie, who is released from prison on life licence after serving ten years, and his probation officer Paula, who is returning from suspension. "Public Enemies looks at the criminal justice system from the points of view of the offender and the gatekeeper," Marchant said. "It's about disgraced individuals trying to reclaim their (more)...

The Guardian has revealed that the BBC has ditched a drama about a fictional siege in a London secondary school for which open auditions were held back in July.

Siege, a four-part BBC1 drama commissioned earlier this year, has now been dropped, the BBC confirmed, because of apparent creative difficulties with the scripts. The drama was being made by independent producer Big Talk.

Dead Set director Yann Demange had been working on the series, but told Broadcast magazine last week: “Siege is a great project at a fantastic production company. I am no longer attached to the project myself.”

After he left the project, the BBC parachuted another director to take on the project, but the “inherent problems” were not resolved, the insider said.

"After much consideration the BBC and Big Talk have mutually agreed that Siege will not be taken any further. It was a hugely ambitious event piece...

Oliver Stone's Wall Street defined the 80s culture of greed, but the sequel fails to the examine the calamity that followed

The record for the gap between an original film and its sequel is probably held by Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money, which came 25 years after Robert Rossen's The Hustler, thus replacing Psycho II which followed Hitchcock's masterpiece 23 years on. Now coming in equal second is Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Oliver Stone's belated follow-up to his 1987 stock exchange saga, the interval being explained, as in the case of Psycho II, by the incarceration of its unforgettable leading character.

The original Wall Street was a Faustian fable of an ambiguously moral kind. In Platoon, the movie that had made Stone's name the previous year, Charlie Sheen as a GI in Vietnam had two role models: the dull, Christ-like good sergeant (Willem Dafoe) and the charismatic...

From Crosby beach to a big match at Anfield, actor David Morrissey takes Amy Raphael on a tour of his hometown – and explains why it has inspired him to direct a new film

Past the Hillsborough memorial and beneath the legend "You'll Never Walk Alone" atop the Shankly Gates, through the creaking turnstile and into the main stand. A subdued Liverpool team warm up on the pitch. Freezing fog swirls in the floodlights. David Morrissey warms his hands on a cup of hot chocolate and wishes he hadn't left his gloves back home in north London. Two officials stare and nudge each other, but no one else even glances at him.

We are sitting five rows from the pitch and, for the first half of this Premiership game against Birmingham City, all the action is at the other end as Liverpool attack the Kop. Morrissey – 6ft 3in, broad of shoulder,...

Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat has received a Bafta Craft Award for the acclaimed third season story 'Blink'.

The 2007 episode, revolving around sinister statues that can only move when a person closes their eyes, beat off competition from Jimmy McGovern's The Street, Tony Marchant's The Mark of Cain and Heidi Thomas's Cranford.

'Blink', which features David Tennant's Doctor in a minor role only, recently scooped . . .

LONDON -- Channel 4 has put contemporary politics at the heart of its spring and summer season and will begin airing U.S. imports including "Brothers and Sisters" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" in the next few months, director of television Kevin Lygo said Wednesday.

Headlining the new season launch is controversial Iraq military drama "The Mark of Cain", scripted by Tony Marchant, which examines the subject of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners of war.

Filmed in Tunisia, the drama includes depictions of soldiers beating and restraining hooded Iraqi prisoners of war.

It is based on the real life events that provoked international condemnation in 2003, when a number of British soldiers were arrested after taking trophy photos of prisoners being tortured.

Other highlights will include a series of documentaries charting the 10 years of Prime Minister Tony Blair's tenure and a look at a potential future government under current treasury secretary Gordon Brown.

Returning series include comedy "Peep Show", Gordon Ramsay's chef series "The F Word" and documentary strand "Cutting Edge".

Sweet and engaging when it isn't flirting with more serious developments, the entertaining "Different for Girls" presents a modern-age love story that's notable for exploring the timeless clash of genders when a shy transsexual attracts and wins over an extroverted heterosexual. An award winner at the 1996 Montreal World Film Festival, "Different" also played at Sundance.

British director Richard Spence ("You, Me and Marley") has a smooth touch, and the performances by Steven Mackintosh ("Memphis Belle") and Rupert Graves ("Intimate Relations") are terrific, but it's not likely the First Look Pictures release will travel far. Ultimately, the story is a bit slight, and the obstacles facing the leads seem contrived.

One is easily hooked on the story of moody Kim (Mackintosh) and temperamental Paul (Graves), while playwright and television writer Tony Marchant's screenplay offers many insightful moments. In a brief prologue, we see that the pair were friends as boys with a definite attraction.

Fifteen years later, punkish courier Paul is knocked off his motorbike by a reckless cab driver, while passenger Kim tries to duck out unnoticed. But if postoperative Kim wants to hide in the diversity of London in order to complete the transformation from male to female, Paul has the reckless courage to take on the world.

Outgoing and fearless, Paul takes Kim out for drinks to get reacquainted, and their differences cause immediate friction. Kim is reserved and cautious, but her obvious infatuation is a sign Paul can't misinterpret. He delivers flowers the next day and creates a scene before Kim's co-workers, including Miriam Margolyes as her motherly boss.

The offbeat romance progresses quickly until Paul's antics get them both arrested, and Kim strikes a deal with the cops that leaves him in hot water. She seeks refuge with her sister Jean (Saskia Reeves), who is married to a sexually dysfunctional soldier (Neil Dudgeon).

Eventually, Kim becomes more rebellious and Paul becomes more responsible, but the sexual mysteries are the all-too-obvious hook. A climactic courtroom scene clears the air, and the long-awaited moment follows. The payoff is worth it, but the film ends abruptly on an upbeat note, leaving one mildly unsatisfied.

The film is well-crafted overall, and the savvy viewer will have fun spotting musicians Ian Dury and Edward Tudor-Pole in cameos.

DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS

First Look Pictures

BBC Films

in association with CiBy Sales Ltd.

and Maurice Marciano/Great Guns

An X Pictures film

Director Richard Spence

Producer John Chapman

Screenplay Tony Marchant

Executive producers George Faber,

Laura Gregory

Director of photography Sean van Hales

Production designer Grenville Horner

Editor David Gamble

Music Stephen Warbeck

Costume designer Susannah Buxton

Color/stereo

Cast:

Kim Foyle Steven Mackintosh

Paul Prentice Rupert Graves

Pamela Miriam Margolyes

Jean Saskia Reeves

Neil Neil Dudgeon

Alison Charlotte Coleman

Running time -- 101 minutes

MPAA rating: R...