Wednesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Netflix’s Korean format gets US, Europe remake

Netflix is remaking Korean reality format Physical 100 for the US, Asia and Europe.

Physical 100: USA is being produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions, with Arthur Smith, David Friedman, Anthony Storm, and Eli Baldrige serving as executive producers. A filming location will be revealed at a later date.

The format, which was created by MBC producer Jang Ho-gi and debuted in 2023, sees elite athletes, bodybuilders, and military professionals face off in grueling quests that test raw strength and endurance.

The streamer said a European adaptation of the Korean show is also underway, while an expanded version of the original show - to be known as Physical: Asia - will premiere on the streamer later this year. Production details on the latter were not confirmed, but the US show has started casting.

UK’s ITV takes Aussie Millionaire spin-off

UK broadcaster ITV has commissioned a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire spin-off as part of a bumper order for the gameshow franchise.

WWTBAM indie Stellify Media is behind Millionaire Hot Seat, an 18 x 30-minute series that requires six players to think tactically and answer questions under pressure as they compete against the clock and each other.

Millionaire Hot Seat has been a long-running ratings hit in Australia, where it was produced by SPT stablemate 2waytraffic for 10 years until 2019, when SPT took over production.

ITV has also ordered Belfast-based Stellify to make a bumper series of WWTBAM, comprised of 12 regular eps and seven celebrity specials. Read more

BBC2 revisits the Piper Alpha Disaster

37 years after the Piper Alpha Disaster took the lives of 167 people, BBC2 is revisiting the events and legacy of the Scottish ecological catastrophe in a three-part documentary series.

Created by BBC Studios for BBC2, BBC Scotland and iPlayer, The Piper Alpha Disaster (w/t) examines the night of 6 July 1988, 120 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, when a devastating series of explosions ripped through Piper Alpha, a North Sea flagship oil platform.

BBC Studios Specialist Factual Production produces with Lucie Ridout serving as exec producer. The series director is Laura Blount and the commissioning editors for the BBC are Emma Hindley and Simon Young as well as BBC Scotland’s David Harron. Read more

SPT, Hill 5.14 link for BookTok romance series

Hill 5.14, the scripted indie run by former Eleventh Hour development producer Tobi Olujinmi, has optioned J.L. Seegars’ romance series The New Haven Series.

The prodco, which has a first look deal with Sony Pictures Television and its Eleventh Hour Films, is developing the show in collaboration with SPT and a major UK broadcaster, which is yet to be announced.

Seegars’ self-published ‘New Haven Series’ has become a hit on TikTok’s book-focused community BookTok, garnering over 16m hits. The novels follow the romantic relationships of intertwined couples over the course of 12 years. Phoebe Okeowo is onboard to adapt.

MasterChef UK sacks host

MasterChef UK presenter John Torode has been sacked following an upheld allegation of what the BBC called an “extremely offensive racist term”.

The BBC and Banijay jointly agreed on the decision the day after the publication of findings of a Banijay-commissioned report into the behaviour of his former co-presenter Gregg Wallace.

That report saw two further allegations against two other people on the show upheld, one of which related to Torode. Read more

Espresso lands docs for summer slate

Independent distributor Espresso Media has launched its summer slate including WWII documentaries, nature documentaries, and a social docu-series.

The distributor has acquired two WWII documentaries, Creative Differences’ Bullets and Blueberries and They Fight With Cameras, directed by Nina Rosenblum and Daniel Allentuck. It has also acquired two titles from Up On Blue Bridge Productions: Bee-Kept and Off The Bench.

Other shows include ReGen C.A.B.’s docu-series, Generation C, as well as Montana Ranchers: The Quest For Harmony, which focusses on livestock production and wildlife conservation.

Dash moves into scripted

UK-based factual producer Dash Pictures is launching a scripted division of the company.

The indie has also unveiled its first production, a psychological thriller feature film starring Tom Hopper, titled Better. The show sees Hopper star as chronically depressed Henry Kane, who discovers he has a long-lost identical twin brother, who appears to be much better than him in every way.

The film is directed by Dash founder Daniel Sharp and produced by Anna O’Malley, Sharp, Laura Hopper and Tom Hopper. It is written by Omid Ghaffarian. O’Malley, Sebastian Barker, Michael Reuter and Sam Cryer are the exec producers of the film, which will be delivered at the end of the year.