London TV Screenings round-up: BBCS sells ‘Dr Foster’ to Nippon TV, extends ZDF pact; Fremantle shops ‘Islands’; Roku & TVNZ in ITVS sales

Doctor Foster (Japan)

BBCS sells ‘Doctor Foster’ to Nippon TV, extends ZDF pact

Nippon TV has acquired BBC Studios scripted format, Doctor Foster, for a Japanese remake.

The new adaptation will deput on NTV on 7 April. Originally written by Mike Bartlett and produced by Drama Republic, the series centres around a trusted doctor whose life implodes when she suspects her husband of having an affair.

In the Japanese adaptation the lead character, Yoko Makabe, is played by Izumi Inamori, while her husband, Makabe Kota, is played by Hisashi Yoshizawa and the adulterous partner, Rio Sakura, is played by Mio Yuki.

In related news, BBC Studios and German pubcaster ZDF are to renew their strategic partnership to develop and co-produce content.

The multi-year agreement, which was originally forged in 2019, will extend co-development on scripted TV content. The new deal also extends first option on pre-sales and acquisitions across BBC Studios’ catalogue of scripted and all factual genre content that are available in Germany.

In an eventful week for BBC Studios, which held its Showcase event yesterday, the company has also signed a development, co-production and distribution deal actor, comedian and writer Nick Mohammed and inked a deal with actor, writer and director Diane Morgan to develop, co-produce and distribute new scripted projects.

Islands: Nature’s Wild Laboratories.

Fremantle shops ‘Islands’

Fremantle has picked up Wall To Wall Media’s new wildlife docuseries, Islands: Nature’s Wild Laboratories, for global distribution.

The 6 x 60-minute series, which explores events on six unique islands, where incredible animals adapt to survive, will be presented at Fremantle’s London Screenings event on 3 March and is set to premiere in the UK on Sky Nature later this year.

Over six episodes, the series travels from Canada’s Arctic Baffin Island to Vancouver Island; the tropical paradises of Borneo, Sri Lanka, and Australian K’Gari, and the wild delta of Botswana’s Okavango Islands. These spectacular landscapes are home to astonishing wildlife, and Islands examines how each environment’s unique geology and origin story has forced the animals who have evolved there to interact as they do nowhere else on the planet.

Nolly

Roku & TVNZ in ITVS sales

The Roku Channel in the US and Canada and TVNZ in New Zealand are among the buyers of content from ITV Studios’ new slate across scripted, unscripted and formats, being presented during London TV Screenings.

World Productions’ medical thriller Malpractice is set to stream on The Roku Channel as one of its flagship Roku Original drama series for 2023, while Pumpkin Film in China, Seven Network in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand have also snapped up rights to the ITVX series.

Nolly, produced by Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street Productions is to air in the US on Masterpiece on PBS, BBC First in Australia and PCCW in Hong Kong, while Maternal, the six-part medical drama has sold to CBC Gem in Canada, Seven in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.

You & Me, from Happy Prince, has been acquired by Stan Australia, while Apple Tree Productions’ crime story Blackwater has been picked by CBC Gem in Canada and will also broadcast on NPO and Viaplay in the Benelux region.

In unscripted, ITV Studios’ landmark wildlife series A Year On Planet Earth from Plimsoll Productions, has sold to CBC and CBC Gem in Canada, and MediaCorp in Singapore, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery India, Seven in Australia, VMI (Virgin Media One) in Ireland, Viaplay in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Iceland, Poland and Baltics. Meanwhile, Nordic public broadcasters NRK, SVT, DR, YLE & RUV have the Free TV window.

Also from Plimsoll Productions, Mother Nature has sold to Wowow in Japan, Warner Bros. Discovery in India, KBS in South Korea and MediaCorp in Singapore, while Running with the Beest from Atlantic Productions, has been acquired by NHK in Japan, MediaCorp in Singapore and EBS (Educational Broadcasting System) in South Korea.

Oxford Scientific Films’ feature length documentary Murder in the Pacific has sold to TVNZ in New Zealand, which has also picked up The Murder Of Logan Mwangi from MultiStory Media and Monster Mansion: Evil Behind Bars from Good TV. Monster Mansion: Evil Behind Bars will also broadcast on Network Seven in Australia.

Alan Carr’s Adventures with Agatha Christie from Boom Cymru, has been newly acquired in Japan by AXN Mystery.

Format sales include My Mom Your Dad, to ThreeNow and Three, while The Voice Kids is reaching new territories including Italy and Uruguay.