Canal+ greenlights English-language drama

French broadcaster Canal+ has ordered its first ever one-hour English-language drama series, The Borgias.

Canal+ has commissioned the 12x60mins series, which will be produced by Lagardere’s Atlantique Productions, UK indie Helion and Jan Mojto’s German indie EOS.

Veteran US showrunner Tom Fontana (Oz, Homicide) will write the pilot and executive produce the show.

Other executive producers include HBO’s former drama boss Anne Thomopoulos and Chris Albrecht, the former HBO chairman and CEO. Albrecht helped broker the deal and is supervising the series’ development.

Helion’s Steven Bawol will also serve as an executive producer having recently co-created cop series Section de Recherche for French broadcaster TF1. Lagardere’s Takis Candilis is the remaining executive producer.

Shooting will start, in Europe, this autumn.