Commissioning – Page 687
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Basil brush heading for the US
Entertainment Rights is hunting for partners to bring children's character Basil Brush to US audiences. The company, which also owns the rights to Postman Pat, said the popular fox puppet would probably remain English with a supporting US cast. Entertainment Rights is meeting with studios and is unlikely to produce ...
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Skinner's Shane taken by Paramount
Paramount Comedy 2 has acquired Frank Skinner's ITV1 sitcom Shane and will screen the first series next year. The 7 x 30-minute comedy series, produced by Avalon Television, features Skinner as a wise-cracking minicab driver whose career and family life is slowly disintegrating. It will ...
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BBC Gnome rights go to Southern Star
Southern Star International has secured the international distribution rights to new BBC pre-school animated show Gordon the Garden Gnome. The 52 x 11-minute series, which follows the daily adventures of a garden gnome and his friends, is produced by Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment and narrated ...
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More planet rock for Biography channel
The Biography Channel has picked up a further batch of Planet Rock profiles for a forthcoming music month. The deal, with Ireland-based indie Monster Distributes, will see profiles on musicians such as Moby, Air and Beyoncé air in October. The batch of 14 episodes marks ...
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Sky Sports secures new-look A1 racing
Sky Sports has signed a three-year deal to broadcast the new Saudi-backed A1 Grand Prix motor-racing series. The network has secured the exclusive live UK rights to the practice sessions, qualifying rounds and races from autumn next year. The fledgling sporting event pitches drivers from 30 countries against each other ...
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Thames signs up talent for ITV sitcom
Thames TV has assembled an established team of comedy talent including the writer of Murder Most Horrid for a new ITV1 sitcom.
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Flora funds IWC to make C4 health show
Indie IWC Media has entered the world of advertiser-funded programmes for the first time with a five-part series for Channel 4.
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BBC3 to stage live opera in railway station
BBC3 is to try its hand at opera for the first time when it stages a 60-minute live event from a mainline railway station in October, in one of the highlights of its autumn schedule.
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ITV's UEFA cup coup
ITV has signed an agreement with Newcastle United to show exclusive live coverage of the team's Uefa Cup home games this season. The games will air on either ITV1 or ITV2 when the competition begins with two first-round matches from 16 September. ITV has rights for all the home games ...
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NewsFive explores dark side of Richard & Judy
Five is to reveal the 'darker side' of rival Channel 4's biggest stars with exposés of daytime stars Richard and Judy and TV chef Gordon Ramsay.
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NewsBBC's ballroom dancers poised to battle Bart
The BBC is to pit a nightly spin-off of its popular Strictly Come Dancing series against The Simpsons when the animation transfers to Channel 4.
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Watson uses drinking film to slate reality TV
Veteran documentary-maker Paul Watson is to make his first film for the BBC in a decade with a landmark special on binge drinking which he will also use as a retort to reality television.
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Olympic medal winners sign up for Superstars
Fresh from bringing home a gold medal as part of Britain's coxless four, Olympic rower James Cracknell has been handed a new challenge - winning BBC1's Superstars.
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E4 pits old comics against new
Endemol UK will attempt to see whether old-time comic heroes are better than the new breed with its first commission out of its new Bristol Studios offshoot.
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NewsKeating boosts BBC2 docs
Documentaries on BBC2 are to get a 'significant' boost following the agreement of a new strategy for the genre by controller Roly Keating.
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NewsBBC4 to feature atheism series
BBC4 unveiled an autumn schedule led by highbrow series on atheism and the power of light this morning (Wednesday).
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High Point goes into production
Drama distributor High Point Films and Television is to move into original production for the first time with the creation of an in-house division.
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Russia buys I'd Do Anything
Russia is the latest territory to buy into indie TWI's I'd Do Anything gameshow format, which challenges contestants to face their worst fears in order win prizes for family and loved ones.
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Oz hit comedy to air on BBC2
The BBC will give Australian hit sitcom Kath and Kim its UK terrestrial debut on BBC2 this autumn after snapping up the rights to the show.