News

Closing a remarkable circle, TF1 espionage thriller “State of Alert,” starring legendary French singer-actor Patrick Bruel in his first major TV work, will world premiere March 27 at Series Mania.

The red carpet affair, featuring other cast and crew, will take place at the very same festival where Keshet Intl. head of drama Atar Dekel, having put through initial development, pitched the series as an Israeli project way back in 2018.

A fast-paced thriller set between Paris and the spectacular white-sand Negev Desert in Southern Israel, “State of Alert” kicks off with a taxi 43 kilometres outside Paris. Anatoly, a Russian journalist, is called on his cell-phone. When he answers, the taxi stops, on a railway crossing. The taxi doors lock, as a train thunders towards the car.

The assassination almost certainly involved software developed by Israeli intelligence services which can send a virus through a cell-phone call to take control of a car.

BBC Studios has named Seven.One Studios’ Rose Hughes as its Senior Vice President for Global Format Sales.

Hughes will lead the sales strategy for unscripted and scripted formats at the BBC’s production and distribution wing, reporting into Jacob de Boer, EVP Global Entertainment.

The appointment marks a return to the BBC for Hughes, who was Senior Sales Executive, Formats Licensing for the Nordics and Benelux in a previous run. She’ll begin the new post in February ahead of the BBC Studios Showcase in London.

At ProSiebenSat.1-owned Seven.One Studios, she is VP of Sales, working with the likes of Married at First Sight creator Snowman and secured the second international order of Stranded on Honeymoon Island with Seven Network in Australia, along with a commission on BBC One in the UK. She also oversaw CBS’s deal to pilot a U.S. version of German scripted format Einstein.

Rebel Ridge not only walks through thrilling action sequences and a compelling crime drama but also features memorable performances from a talented set of actors. Serving as Jeremy Saulnier's fifth feature film, Rebel Ridge is significantly different from the director's previous works. Unlike Blue Ruin, Green Room, Hold the Dark, and Murder Party, Rebel Ridge does not feature graphic violence and relies more on gradually building tension to keep a viewer hooked.

However, despite this, Saulnier's directorial forte is still on full display as he cleverly explores subjects like racism and flawed laws surrounding civil asset forfeiture and misdemeanor sentences. The film's gripping narrative is held together by its cast, which includes both familiar and new faces. Since the cast plays a crucial role in selling Rebel Ridge's crime drama to audiences, viewers may be curious where they know the movie's actors from.

Actor

Role

Aaron Pierre...

Former Berlanti Prods. exec Ryan Lindenberg, who played a hand in the creation of hits such as The CW’s “All American,” Netflix’s “You” and NBC’s “Blindspot,” has joined 5X Media as a scripted partner/producer.

5X is the company launched in January 2023 by founder Scott Einbinder (who is now executive chairman), while Alon Shtruzman and Gil Goldschein now serve as co-CEOs. At 5X, which is an international production studio, talent management and TV/film sales company, Lindenberg will focus on producing scripted television, developing and producing for the feature and digital arenas, while also moving into the new role of collaborating with managers worldwide, securing formats and participating in sales.

“Ryan is a huge get for 5X, a versatile and incredible talent who can enable us to succeed in executing our growth strategy across each of our core scripted areas of focus,” said Shtruzman and Goldschein in a joint statement.

One of the trickiest aspects of HBO’s House of the Dragon was the way viewers spent roughly half of the drama’s first season with “younger” versions of our two heroines — Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower — before a time jump brought longer-term stars Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke to the screen.

That put a lot of pressure on Milly Alcock and Emily Carey to anchor those initial episodes, which they did extremely well. Alcock had the greater visibility, quickly becoming a red carpet favorite and setting herself up for the opportunity to play Supergirl. Carey’s first major House of the Dragon follow-up, Netflix’s adaptation of Holly Smale’s coming-of-age Geek Girl series, isn’t as high profile as joining DC’s House of Zor-El, but it’s a solid showcase for its 21-year-old star.

Geek Girl is a likably wholesome, generally low-stakes YA fairy tale — references to...

Stormy Daniels Doc Finds Global Distribution

Blue Ant Studios (Canada’s Drag Race) has taken worldwide distribution on Stormy, an in-depth documentary about the life of Stormy Daniels coming on the day of Donald Trump’s hush money trial. Daniels made headlines in 2018 when The Wall Street Journal reported that, just before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, she was paid $130,000 to stop her disclosing an affair she and Trump allegedly had in July 2006. Trump’s trial takes place from today in New York. Peacock’s Stormy is produced by Emmy-nominated Erin Lee Carr and producer/director Sarah Gibson (Orgasm Inc: The Story of One Taste), who were also behind the Britney vs. Spears explosive doc. “Our team is thrilled to have international rights for this sought-after documentary produced by two renowned filmmakers who specialize in portraying the stories of women...

5X Media, the film and television producer and talent management company launched by Scott Einbinder, has appointed former Keshet International CEO Alon Shtruzman and former Bunim/Murray Productions CEO Gil Goldschein co-CEOs.

They new executives join as equity partners alongside producer Einbinder (Killer Joe), who launched the company in January of last year and transitions to executive chairman.

In addition the company has secured a second round of investment led by initial backer, Los Angeles-based Bh Alliance. The capital will be used to support 5X Media’s expanision into the global arena.

Einbinder, who formerly served as co-ceo of The...

Former Keshet International CEO Alon Shtruzman (“La Brea”) and former Bunim/Murray Productions CEO Gil Goldschein (“Keeping Up with the Kardashians”) have joined studio/talent management/sales company 5X Media as its new co-CEOs. The duo will also serve as equity partners in 5X with company founder Scott Einbinder, who launched the company last year. As Shtruzman and Goldschein join 5X, Einbinder will move to a new role as executive chairman in the revised corporate structure.

The news comes as 5X secures a second round of investment, led by initial 5X backer Bh Alliance.

“This new infusion of capital represents a tremendous vote of confidence by our investors in our plans to smartly expand in the U.S. and internationally,” said Einbinder, who was previously co-ceo of Cristal Pictures (“The Hitman’s Bodyguard”). “I believe the extraordinary leadership skills of Alon and Gil, who have an unprecedented track record of building...

As Reece Shearsmith just announced, it’s the beginning of the end for Inside No. 9. Filming on the horror-comedy anthology’s ninth and final series began in late 2023, which means a wrap on one of the BBC’s most consistently entertaining and inventive shows is imminent.

Oh it's the beginning of the end. #insideno9

— Reece Shearsmith ❄️ (@ReeceShearsmith) January 8, 2024

Series nine is expected to air in spring 2024, and will add a final six episodes to the existing 49 stories in Shearsmith and co-creator Steve Pemberton’s back catalogue. Barring the first look image above, which shows Pemberton in drag at an underground train station (platform no. nine?), we don’t know anything about the stories, settings or characters yet, but we do know who’ll be joining the pair as guest stars… and it’s a deep bench.

One of Britain’s greatest working actors, Eddie Marsan will appear. As will the brilliant Siobhan Finneran,...

There’s a new trailer for World on Fire, the Masterpiece war drama from The A Word’s Peter Bowker that bows Sunday, October 15, on PBS.

The series looks at World War II through the eyes of ordinary people from all sides of the conflict. The new seven-episode season will follow the first year of the war, starting with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and ending with the Battle of Britain.

The cast includes Lesley Manville (The Crown), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Ahad Raza Mir (Resident Evil), Mark Bonnar (Guilt) and Gregg Sulkin (Runaways).

In 2019, PBS joined the BBC for a second season of the drama that starred Helen Hunt as a war correspondent. Season 2 has already dropped in the U.K, where viewers have noticed the absence of Hunt, as well as Sean Bean, Arthur Darvill and Brian J. Smith — due to a combination of scheduling...

The BBC’s controversial Jimmy Savile drama The Reckoning will be handed its long-awaited premiere in the autumn, while it has unveiled more cast and a first-look image.

Joining Coogan are BAFTA-winner Gemma Jones (Marvellous), Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley), Mark Lewis Jones (Outlander) and Mark Stanley (Happy Valley).

The BBC has also unveiled a first-look image (top), in which Coogan portraying the posthumously-outed serial sex offender can be seen smoking one of his famous cigars ponderously staring out the window.

Produced by ITV Studios, penned by Neil McKay and EP’d by Jeff Pope, the four-part series will trace Savile’s life through the decades. He was one of the BBC’s most popular presenters when alive but in death was outed as using his involvement in multiple organizations, such as the BBC, hospitals, prisons, and charities, to legitimise himself, forging friendships in showbusiness, politics, journalism, the Catholic Church and...

When “World on Fire” premiered on the BBC in September 2019, no one could have known that the World War II drama would be one of the last major scripted debuts on the public broadcaster before the pandemic.

The PBS Masterpiece co-production — which follows the interconnected lives of British and European families during the outbreak of war — confirmed it would return at the end of its Season 1 finale, but the onset of the Covid-19 crisis just four months later and its impact on global production made the prospect of setting up a continent-spanning war drama all the more unlikely.

Yet with some heroic scheduling, rewritten scripts and clever location and CGI combos, Season 2 returned to British screens on Sunday after a four-year hiatus, premiering to an audience indelibly changed by a global and life-altering event of their own.

“I wrote the bulk of the first two episodes during lockdown, and suddenly,...

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself star Nadia Parkes is leading the BBC’s upcoming drama about the terrifying kidnapping of British model Chloe Ayling.

Parkes will portray Ayling in six-parter Kidnapped [working title], which was revealed by Deadline in April, and she is joined by Adrian Edmondson (Rain Dogs, A Spy Among Friends), Nigel Lindsay (The Capture, The Salisbury Poisonings), Olive Gray (Halo, Rose), Eleanor Romandini (The White Lotus, Il Nostro Generale), Julian Swiezewski (The Passing Bells, Krucjata) and Christine Tremarco (The Responder, Casualty). Further casting will be announced in due course.

Based on Ayling’s book, the series follows her abduction in Italy and subsequent bravery and resilience in captivity, followed by a court case that put her kidnappers in jail. Yet despite their convictions, Chloe faced headlines accusing her of faking her own kidnapping, and found herself at the center of a media storm.

Parkes played Annalise O...

Jodie Whittaker, Tamara Lawrance and Bella Ramsey don prison-issue tracksuits in the first image from their upcoming series “Time.”

“Doctor Who” star Whittaker, Lawrance (“The Silent Twins”) and Ramsey (“The Last of Us”) star as three inmates in a women’s prison in the U.K. in a follow-up to the Sean Bean series of the same name.

Jimmy McGovern returns to pen the second anthology-style season of the show with some actors from the series’ first outing – including Siobhan Finneran as prison chaplain Marie-Louise – reprising their roles. Helen Black co-writes while Andrea Harkin directs.

Also joining the cast are Sophie Willan (“Alma’s Not Normal”), Julie Graham (“Shetland”), Alicia Forde (“Waterloo Road”), Lisa Millett (“The A Word”), Kayla Meikle (“The Capture”), James Corrigan (“This Is Going to Hurt”), Nicholas Nunn (“Clique”) and Maimuna Memon (“Sherwood”).

Set in the fictional, high-security prison Carlingford, Kelsey (Ramsey), Orla (Whittaker) and Abi (Lawrance) arrive...

Bella Ramsey-starring BBC prison drama Time has added BritBox North America as co-producer and revealed more cast plus first-look image (above).

BritBox also co-produced Season 1 of the heartwrenching show, which starred Sean Bean and Stephen Graham and won two BAFTAs in 2022.

Joining The Last of Us star Ramsey, Tamara Lawrance and former Time Lord Jodie Whittaker are BAFTA-award winner Sophie Willan, Julie Graham (Shetland), Alicia Forde (Waterloo Road), Lisa Millett (The A Word), Faye McKeever (The Responder), Kayla Meikle (The Capture), James Corrigan (This Is Going to Hurt), Nicholas Nunn (Clique) and Maimuna Memon (Sherwood).

The three-parter, which is penned by Jimmy McGovern and Helen Black, will move to life inside a women’s prison called Carlingford, where Kelsey (Ramsey), Orla (Whittaker) and Abi (Lawrance) are thrown together to face an unfamiliar world. With the ever-present threat of violence within its walls, they discover that an unexpected sense of community,...

BAFTA-winning producer Patrick Spence is leaving ITV Studios after three years, Variety has confirmed.

Spence, who serves as creative director, will leave at the end of March, ITV Studios managing director Julian Bellamy told staff via an internal memo on Thursday. Spence will continue to partner with ITV Studios on upcoming projects including “People vs. Post Office” (working title).

Spence joined ITV Studios in 2020 and secured several acclaimed commissions, including the BBC’s drama-romance “Ralph & Katie,” a spin-off of “The A Word,” about the lives of a couple with Down syndrome; Itvx’s “Litvinenko,” about the investigation into the death of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko; the BAFTA-nominated Cold War spy drama “A Spy Among Friends,” also for Itvx; and post-pandemic frontline medical drama “Maternal” for ITV.

The producer spent 15 years in commissioning and production at the BBC. He served as head of drama for Northern Ireland from 2003 to 2010. In...

Exclusive: Patrick Spence, the executive producer behind Itvx/MGM+ series A Spy Among Friends, is leaving ITV Studios after more than three years.

Patrick Spence

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director of ITV Studios, told staff on Thursday that Spence would be stepping down, with his next venture yet to be confirmed.

He joined ITV Studios in early 2020 from Fifty Fathoms, the drama production label that was part of Endemol Shine Group before it was acquired by Banijay.

As well as the Guy Pearce and Damian Lewis espionage series A Spy Among Friends, he made David Tennant drama Litvinenko, which chronicled the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Spence previously executive produced Sky’s Fortitude and BBC drama The A Word.

The UK owes many of its proudest creations to other countries. Our national dish is chicken tikka masala, the Romans gave us everything from plumbing to underfloor heating, and let’s not even get started on the Royal family.

So it should come as no surprise that some top UK TV shows are based on original series from around the world. Some of these are obvious, like Drag Race UK and Law & Order being imported from the US, or The Masked Singer originating in South Korea, but some UK remakes are less up front about their international origins.

Hullraisers

Lucy Beaumont developed this Hull-based sitcom about the lives of three hilarious, bawdy and chaotic women, which debuted on Channel 4 in spring 2022 and has already been commissioned for a second series. But despite being a gorgeous and all-too-rare depiction of working-class British wit, Hullraisers is actually based on an Israeli sitcom called Little Mom,...

Exclusive: Help and The End of the F***ing World producer Jenny Frayn has joined the BBC drama commissioning team on a temporary basis.

Deadline understands Frayn joined recently to work on certain existing titles and some upcoming, mostly from the slate of Peaky Blinders producer Tommy Bulfin, who is departing soon.

She is a well-regarded British drama producer who has produced a number of critically-acclaimed shows over the past few years including Help – Jack Thorne’s Stephen Graham and Jodie Comer-starring Channel 4 drama about the Covid-19 care home crisis. The TV movie won two BAFTAs and the International Emmy Award for Best TV Movie or Miniseries.

Frayn’s other credits include Channel 4/Netflix breakout The End of the F***ing World and she also has experience working across BBC shows including The Victim and Peter Bowker’s The A Word.

She joins at a time of change for Lindsay Salt’s BBC drama department.

Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 is bringing together its international production and distribution subsidiaries under a new imprint, Seven.One Studios.

The formation of the new unit comes at the end of a period of change, following the sale of subsidiary Red Arrow Studios’ U.S. production arm and the creation of two German production companies.

The restructure will see eight production companies — from Germany, the UK, Denmark and Israel — bundled together alongside sales arm Red Arrow Studios International.

From Germany comes Cheerio Entertainment, Flat White Productions, Pyjama Productions and Redseven Entertainment, with Cpl Productions and Vienna Blood maker Endor Productions representing the UK, July August Productions hailing from Israel and Snowman Productions Denmark.

Seven.One Entertainment Group Chief Content Officer Henrik Pabst will lead Seven.One Studios as CEO while keeping his existing title, with Alexander Pesch CFO and Martin Metzger COO.

“The demand for content is only increasing,” saiod Pabst. “This makes...

German media powerhouse ProSiebenSat.1 is bundling its eight production companies in Germany, the U.K., Denmark and Israel, along with its global distribution arm Red Arrow Studios International, under a newly established banner called Seven.One Studios.

The new entity will produce across all key genres for its own platforms as well as external players. In the future, ProSieben says there will be a “clear focus” within the German-speaking territories on content with young talent for the youth-skewing demographic.

The companies that will feed into Seven.One Studios include Cheerio Entertainment (Germany), Flat White Productions (Germany), Pyjama Productions (Germany), Redseven Entertainment (Germany), Cpl Productions (U.K.), Endor Productions (U.K.), July August Productions (Israel), Snowman Productions (Denmark) and Germany and U.K.-based distribution arm Red Arrow Studios International.

The realignment of ProSieben’s production and international distribution arm follows the establishment of two new production companies in Germany over...

BBC Studios Science Unit Names First Creative Director

The Anthrax Attacks and Dinosaurs: The Final Day producer BBC Studios Science Unit as named its first Creative Director for UK Unscripted. Emma Lorenz has joined from Wonderhood Studios and will responsible for the domestic creative strategy and growing the unit’s UK slate in documentaries, formats and returning series. The BBC production division is led by Andrew Cohen and Director of Development Nicola Cook. Along with big ticket titles for Netlflix and the BBC, it has produced advertiser-funded programming series Cook Clever, Waste Less with The Great British Bake Off Judge Prue Leith for Channel 4. At Wonderhood, which former Channel 4 CEO David Abraham runs, she was Deputy Creative Director, working on shows such as BBC Three’s Trump in Tweets, Channel 4’s Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles, the recent Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life and BBC One’s The Airport: Back in the Skies.

Exclusive: Keshet UK scripted boss Howard Burch has departed, replaced by Keshet International-owned Greenbird CEO Jamie Munro in an expanded role.

Experienced former Kudos exec Burch left several months ago and Munro had been filling in temporarily, before recently becoming the permanent Keshet UK MD. He is tasked with building up the Israeli powerhouse’s scripted UK offering, which includes the likes of Apple TV+’s Suspicion and BBC One dramas The A-Word and Ralph and Katie, the latter two of which are co-produced. Munro keeps his Greenbird responsibilities.

Munro and fellow indie incubator Greenbird co-founder Stuart Mullin took over Keshet International’s UK scripted and non-scripted offering in 2018 but Munro’s new role is more hands-on. The recently-rebranded Interstellar non-scripted arm will continue to be run by David Williams, having spun off from the scripted arm last year. Greenbird has stakes in indies such as Lego Masters producer Tuesday’s Child,...

Disney+ Swoops On ‘Ralph & Katie’

Keshet International (Ki) has closed a weighty multi-territorial deal with Disney+ on “Ralph & Katie,” the new 6×30’ comedy-drama spinoff from “The A World.” Sale forms part of a wider agreement that includes all three seasons of “The A Word,” the BBC One drama. Disney+ has licensed multiple rights for both titles across all of Europe, (excluding the U.K.), the Middle East and Africa.

“The A Word” will be available on Disney+ across the Nordics and Belgium. Launches are also slated for Portugal, Italy, Spain and France from November, then Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the New Year. “Ralph & Katie” will debut in early 2023.

“Being part of the team which has helped Keren Margalit’s ‘Yellow Peppers’ develop from a beautiful family drama in Israel into a returning primetime BBC One drama, that has sold in more than 80 territories and spawned its own spin-off,...

Click here to read the full article.

Disney+ has fallen in love with Ralph & Katie.

In a deal unveiled on the eve of international TV market MIPCOM, Disney+ picked up rights across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea), excluding the U.K., for the BBC One dramatic comedy about a newlywed couple with Down Syndrome.

The six-part, half-hour series, a spinoff of the BBC’s hit Autism drama The A Word, premiered in the U.K. on Oct. 5 to rave reviews. Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy star as the eponymous newlyweds Ralph and Katie, in characters first created for The A Word, which is the British adaptation of Yellow Peppers — the ground-breaking hit Israeli family drama written and created by Keren Margalit for Keshet Broadcasting.

ITV Studios and Keshet U.K. co-produced Ralph & Katie in association with Tiger Aspect for BBC One. The A Word is a...

Exclusive: Disney+ has struck a deal for hit BBC drama The A Word and spin-off Ralph & Katie with Keshet International.

The deal will see all three seasons of Christopher Eccleston-starrer The A Word and Ralph & Katie’s debut licensed to Disney+ across Emea.

The A Word is already available on Disney+ across the Nordics and Belgium, with staggered launches slated for Portugal, Italy, Spain and France from November, and Germany, Austria and Switzerland later on.

The news emerged on the first day of Mipcom Cannes, where Israeli powerhouse Keshet is present.

The shows are based on Israeli family drama Yellow Peppers, which was created by Keren Margalit for Keshet Broadcasting.

From showrunner Peter Bowker, both have redefined the landscape for disability representation in drama in the UK. Ralph & Katie, which follows the exploits of two A Word characters with Down’s Syndrome, was forged by one of...

Centred on a chaotic family coming to terms with an autism diagnosis, the Israeli comedy-drama “Yellow Peppers” never aired on British television, but it’s had a pronounced influence on British TV schedules over the past decade. First, it begat Peter Bowker’s direct adaptation “The A Word,” which over three series relocated several of its predecessor’s storylines to a picturesque Lake District setting, achieving the holy-grail combo of excellent reviews and high ratings for the BBC before finding a transatlantic home on Sundance TV.

Now “The A Word” generates its own variation in “Ralph & Katie,” a six-part spin-off charting the further adventures of soccer-mad Ralph (Leon Harrop) and his baker beloved Katie (Sarah Gordy). Noteworthy as characters with Down’s syndrome played by actors with Down’s syndrome, these lovebirds first won hearts during a third-series subplot on “The A Word,” moving in together against the advice of their overprotective,...

As the nights draw in and autumn arrives, some of the year’s hottest TV shows hit our screens, and drama is no exception.

In amongst the new series of cult reality shows like The Great British Bake Off, Strictly Come Dancing, Drag Race UK and I’m a Celebrity, UK TV networks start a fierce competition for the must-watch autumn dramas that will get everyone talking, leaving us with an eye-watering number of release dates to look forward to.

Here are some of the highlights from the UK’s autumn 2022 drama releases.

The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself

Netflix’s Spooky Season line-up includes this eight-part drama based on the Half Bad trilogy of YA books by Sally Greene. It tells the story of sixteen-year-old Nathan (Jay Lycurgo), the illegitimate son of the world’s most dangerous witch, who has spent his life being monitored for signs he...

Jed Mercurio’s Htm Television’s is working on Payback, a six-part crime drama for the UK’s ITV and Britbox International. Morven Christie, Peter Mullan and Prasanna Puwanarajah are leading the cast, and screenwriter Debbie O’Malley is writing.

Billed as a “compelling character-led series,” Payback will follows Lexie Noble,, as she becomes entangled in a perilous police operation to topple a notorious crime lord, Cal Morris. Puwanarajah and Derek Riddell play financial investigators looking into Lexie’s husband Jared, who has been laundering Cal’s illegal earnings behind her back.

Htm Television Creative Director Jed Mercurio is working alongside Hill, his Htm partner Madonna Baptiste and Diederick Santer on behalf of BritBox International on the series.

Britain’s leading lady of the TV action thriller, Keeley Hawes, is back.

The star of “Bodyguard” returns in “Crossfire,” another nail-biting thriller for the BBC in which Hawes plays a holidaymaker whose sunbathing session on her hotel balcony becomes a nightmare when shots ring out across the complex, turning her world upside down.

The scenario will remind audiences of her turn as the U.K. home secretary alongside Richard Madden’s bodyguard in the eponymous BBC drama, which became a global hit when it was picked up by Netflix.

The setting for “Crossfire,” however, is a far cry from London’s Westminster, instead set at a luxury resort in the Canary Islands.

Produced by Fremantle’s Dancing Ledge Productions (“The Salisbury Poisonings”), the drama is the first original series from author Louise Doughty, who previously adapted her novel “Apple Tree Yard” for a hugely popular BBC limited series.

Dancing...

When His Dark Materials writer Jack Thorne stepped up to the Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart podium last year in an audience-less room, he wanted to address an issue that had felt hopelessly ignored in the mainstream through past decades.

The prolific British scribe’s proclamation that UK TV had “utterly and totally” failed disabled people drew headlines across the country and moved the industry up a gear in solving deep-seated legacy issues both behind and in-front of the camera that impact a minority which makes up around 20 of the population.

“What Jack did so brilliantly was contextualize how the industry can conduct itself within a wider conversation around the country’s attitudes toward disability and treatment during the pandemic,” says Peter Bowker, acclaimed British TV writer of the BBC’s influential autism drama The A Word. “Presenting the wider context is smart as you challenge the industry by saying ‘Don...

Judging from the buzz around 2022 dramas like Inventing Anna, The Staircase and The Girl from Plainville, our appetite for true crime series isn’t going anywhere. From grisly murder to exquisite scams, these powerful stories based on real-life events have us hooked.

Most of the year’s biggest true crime dramas have so far focussed on tales from the USA, but if you’re looking for unbelievable criminal cases from the UK, there’s plenty of must-watch series depicting some of the country’s most notorious criminal scandals coming later this year and beyond. Here’s a few to add to your watch list.

The Reckoning (BBC – later in 2022)

Actor, comedian and Alan Partridge creator Steve Coogan is set to portray the life-long sexual predator and disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile.

After the disturbing and harrowing Netflix documentary Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story aired earlier this year, many have...

Exclusive: U.S. execs headed to the inaugural Scripted Israel event in LA in September can expect to meet 17 prominent Israeli producers and a host of talent and writers.

Organizers have unveiled the line-up of participating companies at the event, which is aimed at uniting top Israeli talent and producers with major U.S. entertainment execs.

Among those signed up are MoviePlus Productions, which co-produced HBO drama Our Boys; Dori Media, which produced Apple TV+’s Losing Alice; Spiro Films, whose drama When Heroes Fly was picked up by Netflix; and Koda Communications, which made the scripted series that HBO’s Your Honor was based on.

Key screenwriters in attendance will include Nir Berger (Dead End), Omri Van Essen (Tehran) and Tehila Peter-Dansker. See the full lists below.

Hosted by the Consulates General of Israel in Los Angeles and New York, Scripted Israel will be held on September 19-22.

It...

Exclusive: Christopher Eccleston (The Leftovers) has signed on to star alongside Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Stephen Graham in Disney+’s upcoming film Young Woman and the Sea, from Kon-Tiki director Joachim Rønning, which is currently in production.

The film based on the book by Glenn Stout chronicles the daring journey of Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle (Ridley), who in 1926 became the first woman ever to swim across the English Channel. The daughter of a German butcher from Manhattan, Ederle was a competitive swimmer who won gold in the 1924 Olympics. She attempted to cross The Channel after first swimming 22 miles from Battery Park in New York to Sandy Hook, NJ, setting a record that stood for 81 years.

Jeff Nathanson adapted the screenplay for the drama, which Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman are producing.

Eccleston is a BAFTA Award nominee who has previously been seen in films including Legend, Dead in a Week Or Your Money Back,...

Exclusive: Anatomy of a Scandal star Rosalie Craig and Boiling Point breakout Vinette Robinson have boarded The Pod Generation, Sophie Barthes’ sci-fi romcom starring Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Harry Potter and The Tragedy of Macbeth actor Kathryn Hunter will also play a minor role in the pic, which is set in an AI future. Clarke, who is also exec producing, stars as Rachel and Ejiofor is Alvy, a New York couple who are ready to take their relationship to the next level and start a family.

Craig is best known in UK musical theater circles and has starred in productions of the likes of Alice in Wonderland, Lord of the Rings and The Ferryman.

She has more recently been pushing into the TV space, featuring in a range of British dramas including as Lucy in Netflix’s Sienna Miller-starring Anatomy of a Scandal.

She was also in The Queen’s Gambit...

Camera are rolling on an ITV drama that tells the true story of Britain’s biggest ever police manhunt.

The Hunt For Raoul Moat will explore the major 2010 police operation to apprehend fugitive Raoul Moat, who went on the run in Northumbria after killing one person and wounding two others.

The drama focuses on the innocent victims of Moat’s crimes – Christopher Brown, Samantha Stobbart and PC David Rathband; the police officers who put themselves in the firing line to apprehend Moat; and a local journalist who sought to tell Moat’s real story in a landscape of sensationalist reporting and social media provocation.

It will begin with Moat ex-partner Stobbart piecing her life back together following Moat’s imprisonment for assault. After he is released, he attempts to rekindle their relationship but when Moat realises that won’t happen, arms himself with a shotgun and confronts her and new partner Brown.

Jessica Brown Findlay (“Brave New World”) and Anthony Welsh “Master of None”) are set to star in a new U.K. drama series from Paramount Plus titled “Flatshare.”

The six-episode series has already started shooting in Bristol, U.K. Production will also take place in London and Brighton.

“Flatshare” tells the story of two twentysomethings trying to get by – by sharing not only an apartment but a bed. Brown Findlay will play Tiffany, a minimum wage worker employed by a clickbait news site will Welsh will play Leon, who works night shifts in a hospice.

To save money, they capitalize on their opposing timetables and time-share their apartment and their bed, with Tiffany sleeping through the night, while Leon is working, and Leon catching up on his sleep during the day, when Tiffany is at her desk in the office. They communicate entirely by Post-It note.

Despite never meeting, however...

BBC One’s The A Word spin-off Ralph & Katie, which was created by a group of disabled writers overseen by Peter Bowker, has entered production in Manchester and the Lake District.

The six-parter from ITV Studios, Keshet Productions and Tiger Aspect, which follows the two beloved A-Word characters played by Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy, has also unveiled cast including Gogglebox narrator Craig Cash, Dylan Brady (Get Even), Jamie Marie Leary (Traces), Sam Retford (Screw) and Daniel Cerqueira (Pennyworth). Returning actors from Bowker’s The A Word include Pooky Quesnel, Nigel Betts and Matt Greenwood.

The groundbreaking show is the UK’s first to feature an all-disabled writers’ room, with five writers overseen by World On Fire creator Bowker.

A program to give disabled people in the North West of England access to the show’s production will run...

Cast has been set on The Gallows Pole, Shane Meadows’ first period TV drama.

Starring are: Michael Socha (This is England), Thomas Turgoose (This is England), George MacKay (1917), Tom Burke (Mank), Sophie McShera (Cinderella), Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey), Yusra Warsama (Castle Rock), Eve Burley (Secret State), Nicole Barber Lane (Hollyoaks), Samuel Edward-Cook (Peaky Blinders), Anthony Welsh (Master of None), Joe Sproulle (The A Word), Adam Fogerty (Legend), and Fine Time Fontayne (How We Used to Live).

A24 has boarded the project to handle international sales. Element Pictures is producing for the BBC.

Based on the novel of the same name by Benjamin Myers, the show fictionalizes the story of the rise and fall of David Hartley and the Cragg Vale Coiners. Set against the backdrop of the coming industrial revolution in eighteenth century Yorkshire, the drama follows Hartley (Socha) as he assembles a gang of weavers and land-workers to embark...

Exclusive: Writer-producer Arika Lisanne Mittman (Paradise Lost) has signed an overall deal with Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

The overall pact formalizes Mittman’s existing relationship with Universal Television. Last year, she was tapped by Utv and studio-based Keshet Studios to write The A Word, a drama based on the Israeli series Yellow Peppers, which was bought by NBC for development in December.

Mittman went on to join Keshet/Utv’s La Brea as an executive producer after the disaster drama received a straight-to-series order in January. Under the overall deal, she will continue as EP on La Brea and can work on other current Utv shows while also developing original content for the studio.

“Arika is a tremendous talent, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to the Utv family,” said Vivian Cannon, EVP, Drama Development, Utv. “We’ve been fortunate enough to...

Buccaneer Media, the production company behind hit Anna Friel series “Marcella” and Irvine Walsh adaptation “Crime,” has super-charged its management team with two new senior hires: Moreyba Bidessie joins as executive producer and Jo Evans (right) as head of production.

Both Bidessie and Evans will report to Buccaneer’s joint chief executives Richard Tulk-Hart and Tony Wood at the company’s London headquarters. Bidessie will work closely with Wood and executive producer Anna Burns on the company’s scripted development slate while Evans will oversee all Buccaneer’s production activity.

“Jo and Moreyba are joining Buccaneer at a very exciting time for the company,” said Tulk-Hart. “We have produced two big dramas during a very difficult year for everyone and have a number of shows set up around the world for next year and beyond, further fuelling our growth. Both Jo and Moreyba bring so much to the company in...

Exclusive: In something of an international coup, Mr Robot and True Detective outfit Anonymous Content has inked a first look deal with Israeli talent and artist agency, The Kneller Agency, which reps a host of the country’s leading film and TV creatives.

Under the deal, management and production firm Anonymous Content will have exclusive first-look rights to original film and TV ideas generated from the group.

Based in the center of Tel Aviv and founded in 1996 by Arik Kneller, the agency reps more than 250 clients in TV, film, theater, literature, music and advertising.

Among the company’s most internationally recognized talent are: Two-time Oscar nominee and co-creator and director of HBO series, Our Boys, Joseph Cedar; Keren Margalit — creator, writer, and director of Yellow Peppers which was the basis for UK remake The A Word (BBC); Tomer Kappon — star of The Boys (Amazon), Fauda (Netflix), and When Heroes Fly (Netfix); Israeli author,...

Exclusive: Keshet, the Israeli media company, is shaking up its UK non-scripted business. The company has rebranded its Keshet Productions’ non-scripted arm as Interstellar and will bring it under the umbrella of Greenbird, the super-indie group that it acquired in 2018.

Interstellar will be led by Managing Director David Williams, with Jamie Ormerod promoted to Creative Director and Marisa Guagenti as Head of Production.

Keshet Productions is the unit responsible for series including Singletown, the ITV2 format that airs in the U.S. on HBO Max, ITV4’s Speed Freaks and Cbbc’s Craft Party.

It is also behind two new shows: Question Team, hosted by Richard Ayoade for UKTV, and an adaptation of Australian format Show Me the Honey! for Cbbc.

Deadline revealed that Travel Man star Ayoade, who directed the Jesse Eisenberg-fronted feature The Double, was piloting Question Team back in September. It has now received an eight-part series order from UKTV,...

Universal Television and Keshet Studios, which co-produce “La Brea” for NBC, have renewed their first-look programming deal for a third term.

The two studios are developing two scripts for two U.S. adaptations for NBC — “The A Ward,” based on Keren Margalit’s “Yellow Peppers” with Arika Mittman, in addition to a remake of Seven Studios’ “Secret Bridesmaids’ Business” with Deirdre Shaw, which is currently titled “Ties That Bind.” They are also producing a spinoff of Keshet’s feature “Save Yourselves!”

“We’ve had an incredibly fruitful relationship with Keshet Studios since 2014 and are excited to continue our collaboration,” said Universal Television president Erin Underhill. “They have a keen eye for distinct and commercial material and terrific talent relationships, and we look forward to creating emotionally resonant and successful projects together in the years ahead.”

“La Brea,” which NBC ordered to series for the 2021 season (and was rolled over from...

Keshet Studios, the company behind series including ABC’s The Baker and the Beauty and NBC’s The Brave, has extended its first-look deal with Universal Television.

It marks the third term for the deal between the NBCU studio and the LA-based production arm of the Israeli media giant.

As part of the deal, the two companies are developing a TV adaptation of sci-fi comedy feature Save Yourselves! The film, which premiered at Sundance last year, comes from writer-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson.

It follows Jack, played by Search Party’s John Reynolds, and Su, played by Glow’s Sunita Mani, a hip Brooklyn couple who like many of their friends find themselves dependent on technology and unable to put down their phones. Fearing their mindless scrolling may impact their connection with each other, they seize the chance to head to an isolated cabin in the woods, vowing...

NBC is developing “Ties That Bind,” a drama based on Seven Studios’ Australian miniseries “Secret Bridesmaids’ Business,” from writer Deirdre Shaw (“Jane The Virgin”), Keshet Studios and Universal Television.

Starring Abbie Cornish (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”), Katie McGrath (“Supergirl”) and Georgina Haig (“Once Upon A Time”) alongside Alexander England (“Covenant”), “Secret Bridesmaids’ Business” (pictured) is itself based on Elizabeth Coleman’s stage play inspired by her eponymous book that premiered on Australia’s Seven Network. Keshet International distributes both the format and tape of the series.

“Ties That Bind” is set to be a thriller in which three women make a promise to one another that leads them to embark on dangerous secrets that threaten to implode their lives. Facing dire consequences, they must rely on the power of their friendship to survive.

Peter Traugott, president of Keshet Studios, said: “With its well-crafted relationships and cliff-hanger plot, Seven Studios...

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and monthly guide to What’s on Streaming.

With more than 530 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

More from TVLineWhat's New on Netflix in DecemberFreeform's 25 Days of Christmas Schedule110+ TV Shows That Ended in 2020:...

Exclusive: NBC has put in development The A Word, a drama based on the Israeli series Yellow Peppers, from writer Arika Mittman (Paradise Lost), Keshet Studios and Universal Television.

Keshet Broadcasting and July August Prods.’ Yellow Peppers, created by Keren Margalit, ran for two seasons in Israel between 2010-14. It has spawned several format adaptations to date, including the British version, The A Word, which has aired two seasons on BBC. Keshet Studios, the LA-based division of the Israeli media firm, and Universal TV, part of Universal Studio Group, set out to develop a U.S. broadcast incarnation of the Israeli show last year.

Written by Mittman, The A Word is a character drama that explores a family’s emotional journey of raising their young son with autism.

Mittman executive produces with Keshet Studios’ Peter Traugott, along with Avi Nir for Keshet Media Group, Alon Shtruzman for Keshet International and Karni Ziv for Keshet Broadcasting.

How will Joe adjust to the changes in his life in the third season of The A Word TV show on SundanceTV and BBC One? As we all know, the Nielsen ratings typically play a big role in determining whether a TV show like The A Word is cancelled or renewed for season four. Unfortunately, most of us do not live in Nielsen households. Because many viewers feel frustration when their viewing habits and opinions aren't considered, we invite you to rate all of the third season episodes of The A Word here.

A SundanceTV family drama series, The A Word stars Lee Ingleby, Morven Christie, Max Vento, Molly Wright, Greg McHugh, Christopher Eccleston, Pooky Quesnel, David Gyasi, and Julie Hesmondhalgh. When five-year-old Joe Hughes (Vento) is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, feelings bubble to the surface which only serve to highlight the tensions between...

Vulture Watch

How will Joe handle the changes that are coming his way? Has The A Word TV show been cancelled or renewed for a fourth season on SundanceTV? The television vulture is watching all the latest cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of The A Word, season four. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you?  

What's This TV Show About?

Airing on the SundanceTV cable channel, The A Word stars Lee Ingleby, Morven Christie, Max Vento, Molly Wright, Greg McHugh, Christopher Eccleston, Pooky Quesnel, David Gyasi, and Julie Hesmondhalgh. When five-year-old Joe Hughes (Vento) is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, feelings bubble to the surface which only serve to highlight the tensions between the members of his extended family. In season three, Joe is...