Arte and BBC join forces for Obama doc

French cultural channel Arte and UK public broadcaster the BBC are joining forces to make Barack Obama: Inside His Presidency, a new four-part documentary about the US president.

With the French title of Barack Obama, le Temps du Bilan, the series will follow Obama’s presidency and the key events during his tenure since taking office in 2009 through interviews with officials and people close to the US leader.

It will be made by Brook Lapping. The UK producer’s Brian Lapping has secured exclusive access to the White House for the 4x52mins project, which has a budget of €2 million (US$2.7 million).

US public broadcaster PBS is strongly tipped to come on board as a North American coproduction partner.

The project was announced at the Sunny Side documentary festival in La Rochelle, France, where Arte presented its 2014-2015 line-up.

The BBC and Arte have previously worked together on several projects including drama series Spies of Warsaw and Ripper Street.

The new Obama doc will follow others that have looked at the US leader. Nat Geo’s 2010 doc The Obama White House was on Nat Geo and PBS and also sold to raft of international broadcasters including Australia’s Ten and Swedish public broadcaster SVT, Ireland’s RTE and Spain’s TV Catalunya.