Television

Despite the coronavirus production hiatus, there’s a wealth of international dramas launching at 2020 Mipcom. From Australia to the U.K., Variety rounds up 15 of the most anticipated international series debuting at the market. Alice (U.K.) “The Durrells” writer Simon Nye and star Keeley Hawes reteam for this black comedy about a woman coming to

Joshua Jackson is now set to play the lead role in the upcoming Peacock series “Dr. Death.” Jackson takes over the role from previously announced series lead Jamie Dornan, who had to bow out of the series due to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater remain attached to the

HBO is developing a limited series about SpaceX, the space exploration company founded by Elon Musk. The six-episode series “SpaceX” will be based on the book “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” by Ashlee Vance. It will document how Musk, in pursuit of his lifelong dream to make humankind a

New series “Lafayette” will be presented this week at the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (MIA), the film and TV market taking place in Rome. Variety spoke to the show’s producer Nicolas Deprost, CEO of the French production outfit Wild Horses, and writer, Oscar winner David Franzoni (“Gladiator”), ahead of the market. “Lafayette” kicks off in the

In today’s Global Bulletin, All3Media lands “All Creatures Great and Small” in several major territories, Limonero Films strikes a deal with Disney on two factual series, HBO Max picks up two Blue Ant International series, “Les Misérables -The Staged Concert” returns to London for the holidays and Gobstopper launches new sister company Flying Saucer TV.

A group of protesters dressed in the red nun habits from “The Handmaid’s Tale” have flocked to the Supreme Court ahead of Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing. On Sunday, nearly a dozen protesters took to Capitol Hill as a demonstration against the Senate’s hearing to fill the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme

Nicole Kidman is unparalleled in the art of playing a woman who’s equal parts flinty determination and distraught pain. When her face falls in shock, her character is likely to fight the instinct to fall apart, instead steeling herself for whatever’s yet to come. It’s a balancing act that found a particularly remarkable showing on

Sometimes IP is a bonus when selling a show, and sometimes it’s more crucial. Two key properties coming to Mipcom from ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group this year are new iterations of beloved stories: Josh Boone and Benjamin Cavell’s nine-part adaptation of Stephen King’s 1978 post-apocalyptic tome “The Stand,” and Anna Fricke’s “reimagining” of the 1990s

Christian Vesper has been promoted to president of global drama at Fremantle, the production and distribution powerhouse behind hit dramas such as Luca Guadagnino’s “We Are Who We Are,” “American Gods,” and the BBC’s “The Salisbury Poisonings.”  Vesper takes on this new role following the departure of Sarah Doole, the former London-based director of global drama,

IQIYI’s drama series “The Bad Kids” has landed a slot on Japanese pay-TV platform Wowow, a first for a contemporary, mainland Chinese show. It is expected to play out from early 2021. Where many Chinese dramas run for between 40 and 80 episodes, “The Bad Kids” comprises 12 50-minute episodes, structred as a suspense series

“Atlantic Crossing,” the prestige Norwegian period drama starring Sofia Helin (“The Bridge”) as Crown Princess Märtha, and Kyle MacLachlan (“Twin Peaks”) as U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is competing at Canneseries and is being shopped by Beta Film as part of Mipcom. Directed by Alexander Eik (“Cold Feet”), “Atlantic Crossing” tells the riveting and relatively

In a virtual presentation made available on the Mipcom Online Plus platform Monday morning, Glance (Global Audience & Content Evolution) unveiled the trends that have and will stand out from what has been an exceptional year for the TV industry. “All over the world, viewers have increased in number and have become more devoted to

Real Film, the Berlin-based co-producer of the hit Emmy-winning Netflix series “Unorthodox,” looks set to continue its recent success with a slew of hard-hitting fact-based series. The Studio Hamburg subsidiary is focusing on German-language productions aimed at the international market, including a take on one of the biggest automotive industry scandals in history and an

The U.K. edition of “The Masked Singer” has wrapped filming on season two and is now in post production, Variety can reveal. Produced by Argonon-backed Bandicoot TV, the hit singing competition debuted on ITV in January and drew a fully consolidated audience of 6.6 million (32% share). Cameras rolled on the show in September at

High-end international co-production, a growth area over the last few years, has seen a significant downturn during the pandemic, but how soon will it return? Recent data from Ampere Analysis shows that two years ago, in the last quarter of 2018, a boom time for international drama, 8% of scripted commissions were co-productions, with 64

Comedy sells. With that adage in mind, Endemol Shine Boomdog, a division of Endemol Shine North America, has teamed up with Ecuador-based Touché Films, the driving force behind the hugely popular Latin American YouTube channel, enchufe.tv. Enchufe.tv has amassed close to 24 million subscribers across the Americas since it launched its first video in 2011. Renowned

María Elena Wood, producer of Turner’s “Mary & Mike,” Joyn’s “Dignity” and now “News of a Kidnapping” for Amazon Studios, is re-launching her own production house, María Wood Producciones. Shaping up already as a key Latin American production partner for top high-end fiction producers in Europe and the U.S., Maria Wood Producciones will focus, as

Atresplayer Premium, the OTT platform run by Spanish media conglom Atresmedia, is prepping TV series “La Ruta,” teaming with Caballo Films, the production outfit whose partners include filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, the co-creator of Movistar Plus’ hit “Riot Police.” “La Ruta” – a working title – is set on the La Ruta del Bakalao, a legendary

Former Canal Plus executives Laurence Gallot and Antoine Banet-Rivet, two of France’s most senior and connected communications honchos, have joined forces to launch Monday Conseil, a PR agency. Paris-based, Monday Conseil will specialize in providing PR services and consultancy to French and international players involved in France’s media and entertainment industry, including tech and digital

Production of TV dramas is back on track in Italy after a pandemic-prompted pause just as several hot new Italian shows, such as Luca Guadagnino’s “We Are Who We Are,” are hitting international screens and markets. Pay-TV platform Sky Italia, which partnered with HBO on Guadagnino’s “We Are Who We Are,” has a slew of

With cameras rolling again and commissioners hungry for fresh content, some of France’s biggest TV companies such as Newen, Mediawan and Federation Entertainment have so far been spared from major setbacks caused by the pandemic. Down the line, however, French players headed to Mipcom might have to rely more on streamers and international sources of

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Camelot,” the Season 2 premiere of “The Spanish Princess.” When “The Spanish Princess” returns for its second season, Queen Catherine (Charlotte Hope) and Henry VIII (Ruairi O’Connor) are ruling together over the country as the house of Tudor. When the audience rejoins the royal couple,

Tom Kennedy, the television game show host for “You Don’t Say!” and “Name That Tune,” died on Oct. 7 in Oxnard, Calif. He was 93. Kennedy’s close friend Steve Beverly confirmed his death on Facebook, writing: “Tom had not been well in recent months but remained in communication with his family and close friends… Later,

Kim Kardashian West announced on Saturday that she is donating $1 million to Armenia Fund. Conflict erupted again between Armenia and Azerbaijan in late September over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and has resulted in the use of long-range weaponry on both sides. The two countries have accused each other of violating the terms of a ceasefire

Samuel L. Jackson’s docuseries “Enslaved” was well under way before this year’s global “Black Lives Matter” movement resurgence, but he admits the project has taken on an urgency for which he wasn’t quite prepared. “It was serendipitous that it came out at this particular time. That was not a plan,” says Jackson. The “Avengers” star

Actor, author and producer Catherine Oxenberg would stop at nothing to save her daughter India from the clutches of Keith Raniere, Allison Mack and their dangerous so-called self-empowerment group NXIVM, a subgroup of which subjected the younger Oxenberg to sexual assault and branding. Her tireless work included deep-dives on the history of predatory behavior in

A first look at Hulu’s upcoming Steven Spielberg-produced “Animaniacs” reboot is here. The teaser clip was revealed during Sunday’s “Animaniacs” cast and producer panel at New York Comic Con, and features an animated Spielberg introducing Yakko, Wakko and Dot within the world of “Jurassic Park.” The clip begins with animated versions of “Jurassic Park’s” Alan

Wild Bunch TV is set to launch three new series, “Crisis Unit,” “Fragile” and “We Are Now,” at MIPCOM and the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (MIA) in Rome. Created and directed by Jacob Berger, “Crisis Unit” is a political thriller set in the murky underworld of the humanitarian industry in Yemen. Starring Isabelle Caillat and André

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, broadcasters, cablers and even streamers found themselves in a mad dash for content, as their original productions toppled like a pile of dominos. “It was like a fire sale when we all started shutting down back in March and April,” says Val Boreland, head of program planning for

Argentina and Mexico-based Jaque Content, originator of suspense drama series “The Cleaning Lady,” now set to become a Warner Bros.-produced U.S. drama pilot, has clinched a strategic alliance with Spain’s Grupo Black Panther. Marking Jaque’s first European beachhead, the partnership will see the two companies targeting fiction production, playing off an emerging co-production triangle linking