FOX Moves UK Premiere For ‘Leverage’ Season 5, Reshuffles Tuesday Night Lineup
The recently rebranded FOX channel is shaking things up on Tuesday nights.
BBC One Orders Two ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ Christmas Specials For 2013
Following the success of the two 2012 Christmas specials and the show’s third season, BBC One has commissioned a further two Christmas Specials of hit comedy series Mrs Brown’s Boys that will air in 2013.
ITV2 Sets UK Premiere Date For ‘Animal Practice’
The first (and only) season of NBC’s short-lived comedy series Animal Practice will receive its UK premiere on ITV2 on Monday February 11th at 8:30pm, it has been announced.
2012 – 2013 Broadcast Season: 41% Of New Shows Sold To UK; BSkyB Heaviest Buyer, WB & NBCU Land Most Sales
British productions – both drama and comedy – have been on the rise in recent years. Some of the bigger broadcasters – notably BBC’s One and Two and ITV – have focused their teams and their budgets almost exclusively on home grown programming and turned away from acquisitions. Even smaller broadcasters such as Gold and Dave (part of the UKTV network) have been ramping up on commissions, but unlike the BBC and ITV, UKTV is still a fairly prolific player in the US acquisitions business. Even so, ITV isn’t completely shunning the US market. Earlier this week, the commercial broadcaster closed a deal with Twentieth Century Fox to acquire the first (and prospective second) season of FX’s spy drama series The Americans, which kicks off state-side tonight. The BBC hasn’t been completely absent either, with BBC Three being the home to two first run US programmes (FX’s Wilfred and Fox’s Family Guy) and BBC Four having recently picked up the rights to NBC’s Parks and Recreation. But how have new broadcast shows from the 2012-2013 seasons fared amongst UK broadcasters?
Showtime Renews ‘Californication’, ‘House Of Lies’ & ‘Shameless’
Showtime has handed renewals to three of its original series: Californication, House of Lies and Shameless. All three shows will return in 2014, Californication for its seventh season, House of Lies for its third and Shameless for its fourth. Production on the new seasons of all three shows is set to commence later this year.
Cinemax Renews ‘Banshee’ For Second Season
Cinemax has handed a second season renewal to its freshman drama series Banshee. The series, which is currently airing its 10 episode first season on the premium cable network, will return for a ten episode second season in 2014.
BBC One Renews ‘Ripper Street’ For Second Season
BBC One’s newest drama series Ripper Street will be sticking around for a while. BBC One has renewed the period drama series for a second season. 8 episodes have been ordered for the show’s second season which will again be co-produced by BBC America.
FOX Picks Up UK Rights To Rene Balcer’s ‘Jo’
EXCLUSIVE: Former Law & Order executive producer Rene Balcer has found a UK home. I’ve learned that the recently re-branded FOX has acquired the exclusive first run UK broadcast rights to Balcer’s upcoming English language drama series Jo, which is being produced for France’s TF1. TVWise reported earlier this month that chatter was that the series would land at the broadcaster and I’ve now confirmed with my sources that FOX UK does hold the rights to the series as part of a multi-territory deal inked by parent company Fox International Channels back in October 2012.