Fox sells five new series to Channel 4

Fresh from this year’s LA Screenings, Fox’s distribution arm has shopped five series to Channel 4. The UK free-to-air broadcaster has acquired Allen Gregory, Apartment 23, Homeland, Napoleon Dynamite and New Girl from Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution.

The deal was brokered by the broadcaster’s head of acquisitions, Gill Hay, and Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution’s senior VP, Steve Cornish.

Two of the five series are animated shows aimed at a grown-up audience with Napoleon Dynamite an animated version of the eponymous Fox Searchlight feature film. Allen Gregory, meanwhile, is written and voiced by Jonah Hill, the star of comedy film Superbad.

Homeland, which will air on cable net Showtime in the US, stars Claire Danes and Damien Lewis in a drama based on Israeli series Prisoners of War.

Single-camera comedies Apartment 23 and New Girl will air on Channel 4’s digital spin-off channel E4. Apartment 23 follows a country girl played by Dreama Walker (The Good Wife) who relocates to New York. New Girl has Zooey Deschanel recovering from a break-up in a show produced in association with Peter Chernin’s Chernin Entertainment.

Channel 4’s chief creative officer Jay Hunt offered, “We’re delighted to continue our strong relationship with Fox. Homeland is a compelling contemporary thriller which will compliment The Killing and both New Girl and Apartment 23 will add to E4’s reputation as the home of the best of US comedy”