Rai 1


Show of the Week: Elsa Morante’s La Storia

Italian author Elsa Morante’s best-selling novel La Storia comes to the screen in this 8 x 60-minute drama set during the latter years of the Second World War. The story follows Ida Ramundo, the widowed mother of 15-year-old teenager Nino, living in Rome during the conflict. The novel, previously adapted as a feature film in […]

Italy’s Rai 1 remakes TV3 Catalunya format ‘Merlí’ with Banijay

Italy’s Rai 1 has commissioned a local remake of TV3 Catalunya’s scripted format Merlí, with Alessandro D’Alatri attached to direct. The series will be known locally as Un Professore and stars Alessandro Gassmann as a teacher who employs philosophical thinking to help his students deal with daily problems, while also exploring challenges in his own life. Filming began this week. […]

US drama Parenthood getting Italian remake

Italian pubcaster Rai has ordered a local version of US network comedy Parenthood. The format is owned and distributed by NBCUniversal, which has struck a deal with Cattleya, the Italian prodco that made Romanzo Criminale and Gomorrah. It will make the Italian version of the family drama, Tutto Può Succedere (Anything Could Happen), for Rai’s […]

The Finance of Formats

European broadcasters gained US$2.75 billion in 2012 from the 100 top format titles.   The TV Formats in Europe report covers 84 channels across 16 territories and shows that the 2012 figure was 5.3% up on the 2011 total and 20.1% up if you go back to 2009. Correspondingly, the number of hours broadcast reached […]