BAFTA winners Louis Theroux and David Olusoga will deliver masterclasses at BBC Studios’ annual Showcase.
Now its 45th year, the event — which normally takes place in Liverpool across five days — is fully digital due to the pandemic. Independent British producers and BBC executives will present a range of new TV projects available to acquire and partner on to the world’s leading content buyers.
BBC director general and former Studios boss Tim Davie will reveal his vision for the public broadcaster, while chief content officer Charlotte Moore will discuss editorial trends and her Showcase slate highlights.
BBC Studios has yet to appoint a CEO since Davie departed for the director general job in September.
Meanwhile, bringing authentic stories to a younger generation will be examined in a panel featuring BBC Three controller Fiona Campbell; emerging talent Nicole Lecky will discuss her first television project, musical drama “Superhoe,” alongside series executive producer and CEO of Bonafide Films, Margery Bone, producer Lisa Walters, and director Dawn Shadforth; and Clerkenwell Films executive producer Petra Fried will introduce two new dramas on the BBC Studios slate, “Cheaters” and “The Birth of Daniel F Harris.”
Curated sessions spanning genres will be available on-demand throughout the event and dedicated show pages will feature imagery, promos and talent interviews. Visitors will also have full-length programs pre-selected for them to view based on their specific interests and preferences.
Several shows are making their debut at the Showcase. BAFTA-winning writer Jimmy McGovern’s BBC Studios prison drama “Time” stars Sean Bean (“Game Of Thrones”) and Stephen Graham (“Line Of Duty”). “This is Going to Hurt” author Adam Kay’s adaptation of his bestselling memoir about the life of a junior doctor stars Ben Whishaw (“A Very English Scandal”) and is produced by Sister (“Chernobyl”) in association with Terrible Productions for BBC One and AMC.
Stephen Merchant and Elgin James’ “The Offenders,” which follows seven strangers from different walks of life forced together to complete a community payback sentence features Christopher Walken and is a Big Talk and Four Eyes production for BBC in the U.K. and Amazon Prime Video in the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Greg Davies’ “The Cleaner,” based on German comedy series “Der Tatortreiniger,” follows a crime scene cleaner, and is produced by Studio Hamburg U.K.
Environmental series include Silverback Films’ climate change show “Earthshot: How to Save Our Planet,” and natural history series “The Green Planet,” a BBC Studios Natural History Unit production, co-produced by ZDF, bilibili and The Open University for BBC One and PBS.
In “The Forgotten Empire,” an Uplands production for BBC in co-production with PBS and Open University, historian David Olusoga journeys to unearth Britain’s place in the world, while “Ten Pictures,” produced by the BBC Studios’ documentary unit, re-examines the lives of six famous faces from the recent past through photographs that define them.
In their fourth series at the wheel of BBC Studios’ “Top Gear,” Freddie Flintoff, Chris Harris and Paddy McGuinness, hit the road again in a series of challenges designed to push them and their cars to the limit.
“In a time when we are unable to connect with others through physical events, BBC Studios has pulled out all the stops to deliver a digital Showcase for customers that will bring them closer to our content than ever before,” said Paul Dempsey, president global distribution for BBC Studios, who ruled himself out of the running for the BBC Studios top job last year, as reported by Variety.
“This highly personalized and curated experience will allow for a deeper exploration of our premium catalogue and the chance to hear exclusively from the worlds leading British creatives about their latest projects.”
The Showcase takes place Feb. 22-24.
Source: Read Full Article