BBC Worldwide brings top titles to Showcase in its 35th anniversary year
BBC Worldwide has made its first international sales of Top Gear USA, ahead of BBC Showcase — the UK’s biggest television export event and the only one of its kind in the world to be hosted by a single distributor.
Top Gear USA, the American version of the UK’s most popular motoring show, has already been sold to broadcasters in Australia (Nine Network), Iceland (Screen One), Israel (Ego), Italy (Discovery), Finland (MTV3), New Zealand (Prime), Norway (NRK3) and Sweden (Kanal 5), and will be one of the key titles at the 35th BBC Showcase, held in Brighton from 27th February to 2nd March.
In its anniversary year, the event will play host to many of television’s biggest names. Keeley Hawes, Dame Eileen Atkins, Rupert Penry-Jones, Philip Glenister, Professor Brian Cox, Anna Maxwell Martin, Bruce Parry, Jean Marsh, Ed Stoppard, Amy Manson, Charlotte Salt, Hannah Spearritt and Andrew Lee Potts are some of the talent who will be mingling with over 550 buyers from around the world. Top Gear USA presenters Adam Ferrara, Tanner Foust and Rutledge Wood will be making their UK debut, flying in especially for BBC Showcase.
“BBC Showcase is the flagship annual event for British television exports,” said Steve Macallister, Managing Director, Worldwide Sales and Distribution, BBC Worldwide. “By generating programme sales for the BBC as well as independent producers, and providing a forum for developing co-productions, it gives a great boost to the UK creative and media industry as a whole.”
Macallister added, “We expect Showcase 2011 to be our most successful to date. The overall number of delegates has increased by 12% from last year and we have our biggest ever delegation from Central and Eastern Europe. We’re also looking forward to welcoming a number of brand new clients to Showcase from Asia.”
BBC Showcase has predominantly been held in Brighton since the first event in 1976 at the Old Ship Hotel, although Bristol, Edinburgh, Jersey and Stratford-upon-Avon have also played host. Next year Showcase enters an exciting new era with a move to Liverpool as the event continues to grow. At the very first event , the key titles being launched to the 25 international broadcasters attending included Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, Andre Previn’s Music Night, children’s series Ballet Shoes, and the original Doctor Who.
This year Doctor Who is back at Showcase, with series 6 of the revamped version in the drama line-up alongside the critically-acclaimed Zen, ratings hit Upstairs Downstairs, the forthcoming second series of Luther, Misfits series 2, Primeval series 4 and the third series of Being Erica — one of BBC Worldwide’s best-selling titles.
New drama series showcased will include: epic sci-fi series Outcasts, in which Liam Cunningham, Hermione Norris, Amy Manson, Ashley Walters and Ugly Betty‘s Eric Mabius play settlers on a new planet; a cinematic four-part thriller, Mad Dogs, featuring Philip Glenister, John Simm, Ben Chaplin and Max Beesley; BAFTA-winning writer Peter Moffat’s Silk, starring Rupert Penry-Jones and Maxine Peake as barristers on the front line of criminal law; Andrew Davies’ adaptation of Winifred Holtby’s South Riding with David Morrissey and Anna Maxwell Martin; supernatural thriller Bedlam, starring Will Young and Charlotte Salt; Scott and Bailey, with Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones as two homicide detectives; and The Shadow Line — BBC Two’s landmark noir thriller, boasting a stellar cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Sir Antony Sher and Stephen Rea.
Showcase always brings together a great selection of the BBC’s world-leading natural history titles, and this year is no exception, with Alastair Fothergill in attendance as producer of the much anticipated Frozen Planet, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Earthflight — an ambitious series that shows viewers astonishing aerial images of the world as seen by birds — is on offer, with The Bear Family and Me, Madagascar, Nature’s Miracle Babies and The Truth About Lions adding to the list of top quality natural history output.
A special 3D session will be held for the first time at Showcase. Buyers will enjoy a visual feast with stunning footage from Walking with Dinosaurs amongst others due to be screened.
Professor Brian Cox will be in Brighton to present his new series, Wonders of the Universe, while ambitious new science series Human and Planet Dinosaur will employ breathtaking CGI effects to show audiences the inner workings of the human body and the very latest paleontological findings respectively.
Bruce Parry is another on the longest list of talent attending Showcase to date — he’ll be presenting his new series Arctic with Bruce Parry at the documentary session.
Comedy highlights will include ratings smash Come Fly With Me, series 2 of Psychoville, further adventures of the young Del Boy in the Rock & Chips specials, plus new sitcom Friday Night Dinner, with Simon Bird providing the laughs alongside Tamsin Greig.
The Jim Henson Company will be bringing the puppet stars of Me & My Monsters along for the Children’s Premiere, and MI High, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Wingin’ It all return with new series. Also up for grabs in the children’s category are Sadie J and Leonardo.
History shows Civilization: Is the West History?, Inside the Titanic and Egypt: What Lies Beneath round off a diverse range of programming for Showcase buyers to enjoy.
BBC Worldwide is the largest distributor in the world outside the USA. BBC Worldwide sells programmes on behalf of the BBC and independent producers.
By Melinda Brown for MNI Live.
(Source: mnilive.com)