Asacha Media Group developing Ibn Battuta drama with Assaad Bouab

Assaad Bouab

European production house Asacha Media Group is in development on The Voyager (working title), a drama series based around the life of medieval explorer Ibn Battuta.

Adventurer, writer and philosopher, Battuta went on pilgrimage to Mecca and ended up travelling for more than 20 years and over 76,000 miles across Africa, India and Eurasia, more than anyone in pre-modern history.

He logged his experiences of the people, places and cultures he encountered along the way, writing one of the world’s earliest and most famous travelogues, The Rilah.

Call My Agent! and Bad Sisters star Assaad Bouab will play Battuta in the series and also executive produce, developing the show alongside Asacha and director Benjamin Ross.

“In such a saturated market, it’s hard to find distinctive and important stories to tell, this one is both,” said Maria Ishak, head of international content & co-productions at Asacha Media Group

Asacha, which was launched in 2020 by Endemol Shine Group alum Marina Williams and former Zodiak Media execs de Chavagnac and Marc-Antoine d’Halluin, comprises firms including French producer SRAB Films, which it acquired last year, as well as Kabo Family, the French scripted firm behind Amazon’s Mixte and M6’s En Famille, and is also home to Sanditon and Death In Paradise producer Red Planet and factual producer and distributor WAG Entertainment.