UKTV


DCD picks up rights to UKTV shows

DCD Rights has picked up rights to two series from UKTV and will launch them internationally. The UK-based distributor has acquired 15x60mins series My Dream Derelict Home and 30x60mins Nick Knowles’ Original Features (pictured). My Dream Derelict Home is made by UK indie True North and follows property renovator Simon O’Brien as he helps people […]

Watch begins to Believe in Abrams’ new show

UK multichannel network Watch has acquired J.J. Abrams latest series Believe from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. The upcoming NBC scripted show also counts filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón as a co-creator. UKTV-owned Watch will launch it early next year. Comprising 13 hours, Believe follows the story of a young girl with supernatural powers who is placed under the […]

UKTV’s Watch moves into original drama with Red Planet series

UKTV-owned pay channel Watch is getting its first original scripted drama, with scriptwriter Tony Jordan’s indie attached to create a 10-part supernatural thriller. Legion will tell the story of a criminologist on a global search for a cure for his 10 year-old daughter’s inoperable brain tumour who is forced to make a deal with the […]

Mark Linsey confirmed in top BBC television role

The BBC’s entertainment commissioning chief Mark Linsey has been confirmed as its new deputy director of television. Linsey will add the role to his current duties as controller, entertainment commissioning. The new duties include becoming the BBC’s point person for its relationship with multichannel broadcaster UKTV, in which the BBC has a 50% stake. BBC […]

Australia’s Surveillance sells to BSkyB, Mediaset

Australian factual entertainment and CCTV series Surveillance has found its way to BSkyB in the UK and Italy’s Mediaset. The 12x30mins series, which first broadcast on Seven Network, has also sold to SBS in the Netherlands, TV4 in Sweden and A+E Networks in Poland, Romania, Greece, Cyprus and Africa. This comes after the show’s distributor, […]

UKTV buys CBS drama for Alibi

UK digital channels group UKTV has acquired US drama series King & Maxwell from CBS Studios International. Based on the David Baldacci books, the series follows a pair of secret agents turned private investigators. UKTV, a joint venture between Scripps Network Interactive and BBC Worldwide, will launch the show on its Alibi crime channel in […]

ZDFE signs Sky Living drama in Bonafide development deal

German distributor ZDF Enterprises has acquired global sales rights to upcoming UK drama Talking to the Dead, and scored a development deal with the show’s producer. 2x60mins Procedural Talking… is based on the Harry Bingham novel of the same name and will launch on BSkyB’s female-skewed Sky Living channel. It follows a wayward police officer […]

Dave launches catch-up on YouView

UKTV-owned entertainment channel Dave has launched a seven-day catch-up TV service on the YouView platform. The service, which went live today, allows viewers to access content on the channel through a Dave-branded on demand portal and through YouView’s seven-day scroll back programme guide. The channel is the first of UKTV’s free-to-air channels to launch a […]

Watch gets acquainted with Boston’s Finest

UK pay TV channel Watch has acquired Boston’s Finest, a reality series focusing on the East Coast city’s law enforcement officers. UKTV-owned Watch will launch the 8x60mins series, which debuted on Time Warner-owned TNT and Endemol Worldwide Distribution shops on the international market, in mid-August. The series is billed as a “dramatic journey into the […]

BBC Worldwide hires ex-UKTV, Channel 4 commissioning execs

BBC Worldwide has expanded its commissioning team with execs from UKTV and Channel 4. UKTV’s commissioning editor of entertainment Julie Swanston and Channel 4’s former commissioning editor of specialist factual Lucy Pilkington have joined the UK pubcaster’s commercial arm as executive producers. Swanston will be responsible for generating entertainment content for BBCWW’s channels, including US […]