Wednesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

A Taste for Murder heads to Oz 

Seven Network in Australia is among buyers of BritBox drama A Taste for Murder, which is set to debut on UK streamer ITVX on 13 May.

The series follows a detective who takes a sabbatical after the sudden death of his wife, but find himself thrown into a murder case while on holiday in Italy.

Warren Brown (The Responder) and Beau Gadsdon star, with Matt Baker (Patience) attached as writer and creator. Jo McGrath, Walter Iuzzolino, and Carolina Giammetta are executive producers for ITV Studios-owned Eagle Eye Drama.

ITVS has also sold the show to VMTV for the Republic of Ireland, TVNZ for New Zealand, Mystery Channel for Japan, TV 2 in Denmark, YLE in Finland, and HOT for Israel.

Angela Jain unveils Disney+ series

Disney+ has ordered an adaptation of a Tom Hindle novel and a Spanish docuseries, with the announcements coming as Europe chief Angela Jain unveiled her strategy at Series Mania.

Murder on Lake Garda is a murder mystery being produced by Fremantle-owned The Apartment and will be badged as a Hulu original.

Spanish docuseries Abandoned is from Luminol media and explores what happened when three children aged two, four and six were found abandoned, while MGX is behind Turkish drama The Strange Story of Gustav Maier.

The series join a feature doc from Northern Irish indies Rare TV and Stellify Media that unpacks the rise to fame and shocking kidnap of singer Duffy.

Mediapro expands into Canada

Spain’s Mediapro Studio has launched production partnership Stopwatch Media in conjunction with Canada-based showrunner Charles Wachter.

The company will be headquartered in Toronto, marking Mediapro’s first production outfit in Canada.

Stopwatch will be led by Wachter and aims to tap into the Mediapro Studio’s reach, resources and partnerships to develop premium, scalable formats for both the US and international audiences.

Wachter has been behind shows such as Netflix’s Million Dollar Secret, Amazon’s Beast Games, and Hulu’s Got to Get Out to Canada.

The Americans gets Korean reboot

Disney+ is remaking hit FX show The Americans with a Korean spin, as part of its expanding APAC slate.

The Koreans is a reboot of the Joe Weisberg-created original that followed two Russian spies living as a seemingly typical US family and will stream exclusively on Disney+ internationally and on Hulu in the US.

The show is set in South Korea in the early 1990s and follows a local middle-class family. Unbeknownst to their children or anyone else, the mother and father are actually elite North Korean spies working to bring down the South from within.

Lee Byunghun (Squid Game) and Han Jimin (Heavenly Ever After) star, with Ahn Gilho (The Glory) directing. Park Eunkyo (Made In Korea) has adapted FX’s The Americans. Production has started with Imaginus and Studio AA.

Red Pants, R91 among Series Mania winners

French thriller R91 has been crowned winner of the second edition of the Series Mania Buyers Upfront.

The 6 x 52-minute series is sold by SND Groupe for M6 and is produced by Next Episode. The story tracks what happens when a crew member is found dead onboard French nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91).

Series Mania has also unveiled the winner of its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, with Kyrgyzstan’s Red Pants receiving the €50,000 prize. The 1970’s set show is produced by Erke Dzhumakmatova for Studio Oymo with Human Films and follows a military officer’s daughter who creates a female criminal gang to avenge her father’s death.

In related news, the SeriesMakers Award in association with Series Mania Institute is the Canadian project Chachachá! (8 x 30’) by Alison Fairweather Murray (writer/director) and Jennifer Weiss (producer, Nice Picture!).

Vendetta sells in 70+ countries

Turkey’s Global Agency has sold drama series Vendetta (aka Kan Çiçekleri) into Poland, Romania and Africa.

The deals mean the show has now sold into over 70 countries, with sales also secured in Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the CIS region, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Produced by Rains Pictures and Unik Film, and starring Barış Baktaş and Yağmur Yüksel, the series ran for three seasons in Turkey, totaling 645 episodes. It was broadcast on Kanal 7 on weekdays.

ITV heads to New Zealand with Gary Barlow 

Gary Barlow will travel to New Zealand with comedian Jason Manford for his latest ITV daytime travelogue from Rock Oyster Media.

The two friends will lead a six-part series for ITV1 titled Gary Barlow’s Food & Wine Tour: New Zealand, which is produced in association with Tourism New Zealand and Great Rail Journeys.

In New Zealand, the pair will be welcomed by Maori sub-tribe Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and experience precarious tandem biking, rescued penguins and explore olive groves and vineyards.

“Together Gary and Jason will travel through an emotional mix of culture, history and spectacular views - all bound together by good wine, good views and fantastic vibes,” said Rock Oyster Media’s managing director and executive producer David Nottage.