Tuesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

C4 adapts Swedish novel with Glenn Close attached

Glenn Close is to star in a Channel 4 adaptation of Swedish crime writer Helene Tursten’s short story collections, from The Undeclared War label Playground.

Six-part Maud (w/t) is a screen rendering of Tursten’s An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good and An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed and will see Fatal Attraction star Close playing the titular character Maud Oldcastle, a woman of a brusque, cantankerous and ruthless disposition, who is also a killer with a tortured past.

The series was developed and produced by Playground for Sony Pictures Television. Read more

ProSiebenSat.1 future unclear

MediaForEurope (MFE) has revealed that it now holds a 43.57% stake in Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, following its voluntary public takeover offer unveiled earlier this summer. 

Shareholders in the German broadcast giant who have not yet taken up MFE’s offer price - 1.3 MFE-A shares and €4.48 in cash per ProSiebenSat.1 share - now have an additional acceptance period that runs 19 August to 1 September. The offer has an implied value of approximately €7.99, based on 15 August share prices. 

Czech-based PPF, which has also been looking to take control of the German broadcaster, confirmed it now had a 18.41% stake following the end of its own offer period. ProSiebenSat.1 Media’s chief exec Bert Habets said the company is now waiting for the end of MFE’s acceptance period for “clarity about the future shareholder structure.”

Netflix extends Left Bank’s Dept. Q 

Netflix has ordered a second series of the Edinburgh-set crime procedural Dept. Q from Left Bank Pictures.

The adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s novels will once again star Matthew Goode as DCI Carl Morck, the head of a maverick department run from the basement of a police station to tackle cases that were previously deemed unsolvable. His team of misfits are played by Alexej Manvelov, Leah Byrne and Jamie Sives.

The nine-episode first series, which launched in May, spent six weeks in the global top 10 shows on Netflix, and its first episode achieved 5.5m UK viewers after 28 days – nearly double its seven-day audience of 2.8m. Read more

C4 orders Steven Moffat political drama 

Channel 4 in the UK has ordered a political drama from Steven Moffat.

Produced by ITV Studios-owned Hartswood Films and billed as a depiction of “all of Britain in a house”, Number 10 follows a fictional prime minister residing in one of the UK’s most iconic addresses.

It was commissioned by Gwawr Lloyd, acting head of drama, and is exec produced for Hartswood by Moffat and Sue Vertue, with Laurence Till (The Devil’s Hour) producing. Ben Palmer (Douglas Is Cancelled) directs and ITV Studios handles global sales. Read more