All the latest news from the global content industry on Thursday, 16 July

 

Sullivan’s Crossing returns to The CW

US network The CW has picked up the fifth season of Canadian drama Sullivan’s Crossing.

The well-travelled Muse Entertainment series was created by Roma Roth, who recently confirmed she would not be attached as showrunner on its fifth outing, with Floyd Kane taking up the role.

The drama - about a surgeon who returns to her rural hometown in Nova Scotia - is commissioned out of Canada by Bell Media’s CTV and sibling streamer Crave. Fremantle handles global sales, with the show’s earlier seasons available on Netflix in the US.

 

MHz Choice buys France’s Sambre

US streamer MHz Choice has exclusive local rights to French thriller Sambre, the six-episode drama from Jean-Xavier De Lestrade (The Staircase).

The series follows the story of one of France’s most notorious rapists, who attacked women in the same location for decades yet eluded authorities for nearly 30 years.

The drama broke records in France when it premiered on France 2, with more than 4 million viewers per episode, and another 3 million views online and nearly 6 million VOD plays.

Sambre was written and created by Alice Géraud and Marc Herpoux, based on journalist Géraud’s book about the case. The series was produced by What’s Up Films and Federation Studios in coproduction with Versus Production.

 

ABC in Oz, Rai welcome Lady Grace

ABC in Australia, Hot in Israel and Switzerland’s RTS have picked up the first two seasons of tween spy series The Lady Grace Mysteries.

The trio have pre-bought the upcoming second season following deals with distributors Federation Kids & Family and ZDF Studios, which also sold the first run to Rai in Italy, Radio-Canada (Canada), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway) and NPO (The Netherlands).

The Lady Grace Mysteries, which totals 23 x 24-minytes episodes, is produced by Cottonwood Media, Coolabi Productions and commissioned by ZDF Studios and BBC Children’s and Education.

It is based on the children’s detective fiction novels of the same name and centres around 14-year-old Lady Grace Cavendish, the world’s first female teenage detective working as a private spy for Queen Elizabeth I.

 

Objective’s production chief to exit

Objective Media Group’s (OMG) director of production and operations Roz Pound is to leave after a decade at All3Media, Broadcast has learned.

Pound will step down from the All3Media sub-group at the end of July with no plans to replace her. She had recently taken over the running of the business alongside commercial director Holly Pye, following the departure of chief executive Layla Smith.

“After 10 years at the company Roz Pound has made the decision to leave her role as director of production and operations to spend more time with family,” said an OMG spokesperson.

Pye will now run the business, with Beccy Green continuing as head of production for unscripted, and Jane Harrison as head of production for scripted. Read more