The CW takes Shaftesbury’s digital series to TV

The CW is taking digital series Backpackers from the web to TV.

The US broadcast network will show new episodes of the show from this sumer with a ten-episode run of half-hour episodes.

The first four eps will use content from the web series, which previously went out on The CW’s digital platform CW Seed, and the subsequent six will be wholly original.

The series, which follows two best friends travelling across Europe in search of the one of the pair’s missing bride to be. It is made by Smokebomb Entertainment, the digital division of Canada-based producer and distributor Shaftesbury.

Maggie Murphy, head, Shaftesbury US, said: “This is our first online project to travel to television and a perfect example of how digital storytellers and broadcasters can come together to incubate and migrate content across multiple platforms.”

To coincide with the launch of the scripted series on TV, there will be a related reality show for CW Seed. In The Real Backpackers, guide Annie Unnold will travel to the same locations as her fictional Backpackers counterparts in Europe and then in Canada.