Imaginary Friends


‘Broadchurch’ creator Chris Chibnall & ITV team to train “next wave” of UK showrunners

Chris Chibnall’s UK-based Broadchurch co-producer Imaginary Friends has partnered with local broadcaster ITV to launch a new scheme to train and support the “next wave” of British showrunners. The ‘Next Generation Showrunner Programme’ will cover every aspect of showrunning, at each stage of production: from first idea, building a team, pre-production, shooting, post-production, through to […]

Liz Murdoch ‘investing in Featherstone firm’

Shine Group founder Liz Murdoch is set to reunite with Jane Featherstone by investing in new production company Sister Pictures. According to the Financial Times, Murdoch has held talks with Featherstone over a small, private investment in Sister, which Featherstone launched yesterday. Featherstone produced significant series such as Broadchurch and Spooks while Murdoch was in […]

Fox leaves Gracepoint

US broadcast network Fox has cancelled crime drama Gracepoint after one season. The show failed to gain the same traction as Broadchurch, the high-rating and critically acclaimed UK show upon which it was based. Following middling ratings during its 10-episode run, Fox has pulled the trigger and cancelled the show, which follows David Tennant (Doctor […]

DreamWorks sale talks ‘stall’

Discussions that may see Jeffrey Katzenberg’s DreamWorks Animation sold to Japan’s SoftBank Corp. have “cooled”, according to the Wall Street Journal. This week it emerged SoftBank, a giant Japanese conglomerate, had offered DreamWorks US$32 a share to acquire the business for a total of around US$3.4 billion. However, the WSJ reported these talks have now […]

Canadian, Oz buyers reach Gracepoint

Canada’s Global TV and Australian pay TV provider Foxel have acquired Gracepoint, the US remake of British crime drama Broadchurch. In Canada, the show will share Fox’s US premiere on Thursday, October 2, while in Australia it will go day-and-date the following day on the NBCUniversal-owned Universal Channel. The 10-part series comes from Shine America, […]

Kudos strikes deal with Broadchurch producer

Shine-backed drama producer Kudos has inked a first-look deal with Imaginary Friends, the UK production company that has recently had huge success with ITV drama Broadchurch. Imaginary Friends is run by Chris Chibnall who wrote and exec-produced Broadchurch. Shine International distributes the serialised crime mystery, which generated massive ratings ITV1 with an average audience of […]