Jill Halfpenny & Owen McDonnell Set As Leads In Channel 5’s ‘The Holiday’
Jill Halfpenny (The Drowning, Liar) and Owen McDonnell (Killing Eve, The Bay) have been set as the leads in The Holiday, Channel 5's four-part adaptation of the T.M. Logan novel. Rounding out the cast is Aidan McArdle (The Trial Of Christine Keeler, The Mallorca Files), Liv Mjönes (Midsommar, The Lawyer), Siobhan Hewlett (McDonald & Dodds, The Syndicate), Andrew Macklin (Doctor Who, Fair City) and Cat Simmons (Holby City, Moving On). 
Several months after 
Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman, Gladiator) and Christopher Eccleston (The A Word, Doctor Who) have been set as the leads in Close To Me, a six episode psychological thriller that is being produced for Viaplay and Channel 4. 
Several months after landing international distribution rights to the series, NENT Studios UK has lined up a number of sales for Norwegian drama series For Life with SBS in Australia, Pro Plus in Slovenia, and Canal Plus in France. They have also licensed Swedish political thriller The Inner Circle to SBS. 
NENT Studios UK (formerly known as DRG) has acquired international distribution rights to fantasy series The Dead Lands. NENT picked up the rights in a deal with GFC Films, who recently clawed them back following the collapse of Kew Media Distribution. 
DRG has partnered with Mexican studio Dopamine for a push into scripted. The two companies will co-finance, develop and produce English-language scripted content, which DRG will then exploit on the global market. DRG said the partnership would "significantly increase" its support for UK producers in bringing their shows to the screen. 
BritBox is adding to their line up of UK scripted shows. The new streaming service has inked a deal with DRG for Channel 4's short-lived police comedy-drama Babylon, BBC Four comedy Detectorists, BBC One's Jenna Coleman drama The Cry and BBC One's Tracey Ullman's Show.