Monday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

ITVS lands first Catchprase in Asia 

ITV Studios and Sri Lanka’s Sirasa TV have extended their deal for singing format The Voice and struck the first-ever Asian commission of physical gameshow, Catchpoint.

The latter will be known locally as Sirasa Catchpoint and is set to debut next month. The format launched on the UK’s BBC and sees players answering questions correctly, or nearly correctly, to position themselves under the right spot and catch a falling ball. 

As part of the package, The Voice Sri Lanka and The Voice Teens will move into their third and fourth seasons respectively, both to air this year. 

The Voice franchise renewal and new commission for Catchpoint were negotiated by Ayesha Surty, ITVS’s head of brand partnerships in Asia, and Sirasa TV’s team led by chief exec Yasarath Kamalsiri.

Easy Tiger lands Dynamic TV prize

Screen Australia and Dynamic TV have picked dark comedy How to Kill a Client as winner of its Scripted Initiative prize.

The show is from Colin From Accounts producer Easy Tiger Productions and is the third project – following Fox Hunt and Dark Mode – to receive $100,000 in development funding through the initiative ($50,000 from Screen Australia and $50,000 from Dynamic Television). 

How to Kill a Client has been written by Sarah Dollard (Bridgerton), Scout Cripps (The Undertow) and Michael Lucas (The Newsreader). It interweaves the murder investigation of corporate high-flyer Gavin Jones with the final six months of his tumultuous life.

The series will be produced by Ian Collie (Four Years Later) and Rob Gibson (Territory), with Catherine Millar (NCIS: Sydney) attached as director.

BBC ‘regrets’ Glastonbury decision

The BBC has admitted it should have pulled the live stream of punk band Bob Vylan during their performance at UK music festival Glastonbury, following outrage over their anti-Israel chant.

Frontman Bobby Vylan led the crowd in chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF” during the act’s performance on Saturday, in what the prime minister Keir Starmer has condemned as “appalling hate speech”. The set was broadcast live on iPlayer and has since been removed from the platform.

A BBC statement said: “The judgment on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines. In addition, we took the decision not to make the performance available on demand.

“The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.” Read more

Prime Video lands All3’s true crime

Amazon’s Prime Video in the UK and Ireland has picked up five true crime shows from UK producer Story Films, following a deal with All3Media International. 

Shows include: The Honeymoon Murder: Who Killed Anni Dewani?; A Killer’s Confession; Hunting The Yorkshire Ripper; The London Railway Murders; and #FindBecky (working title). 

The shows will debut on Prime Video UK this year, with All3Media International on board as global partner and handling international RoW sales. 

Big Media’s Royal Gardens to open in Oz

SBS Australia has pre-bought a six-part original series from producer Big Media that explores some of the world’s most-majestic royal estates through their historic and botanical wonders.

Royal Gardens, which is currently in production, will air on SBS and SBS on Demand in early 2026. In addition, the series has also been pre-sold to ORF Group for its 3Sat channel in Austria. 

The show features gardens at locations ranging from Hampton Court to El Jardín Real and Sanssouci to Schloss Hof, with each episode revealing the secrets, beauty, and cultural legacy of these iconic gardens. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is host.