BBC Worldwide has announced pre-sales for Hidden Kingdoms to a raft of broadcasters, ahead of MIPCOM 2013. The three-part series from BBC’s Natural History Unit, co-produced with Discovery, RTL, France Télévisions and CCTV9 in association with R.T.I S.p.A., has been licensed to Australia (Network Ten), South Africa (BBC Knowledge), Sweden (SVT) and Iceland (RÚV).
Hidden Kingdoms (3 x 50′) is produced by Mark Brownlow (Planet Earth, South Pacific) and the Executive Producer of Africa, Life and One Life (Mike Gunton).
Wild Brazil is another new title on BBC Worldwide’s factual slate, pre-sold to Germany (WDR) and Sweden (SVT). The series comes from the producers of Meerkat Manor and Elephant Diaries (Lucinda Axelsson) and 24/ 7 Wild and Springwatch (Tim Scoones).
Mark Reynolds, Director, Factual Content BBC Worldwide said: “The pre-sales for our outstanding productions such as Hidden Kingdoms and Wild Brazil are a testament to the quality of BBC Worldwide’s content at MIPCOM this year. Our factual slate has something for everyone. Hidden Kingdoms, Deadly Pole to Pole, Life Below Zero – The Thaw and Wild Brazil take your breath away, The Moaning of Life and Top Gear offer wit and surprising insights and How to Build a Planet gives an opportunity to learn more about the world.”
Another series on BBC Worldwide’s factual slate, being produced by Adjacent Productions for The National Geographic Channel U.S., is Life Below Zero – The Thaw (6×45’). It follows the drama and hardships experienced by four Alaskan households in different corners of this merciless territory as they face a whole new set of challenges after the harsh winter.
The natural history slate also features Deadly Pole to Pole (30×30’) in which British naturalist, writer and television presenter, Steve Backshall, embarks on an epic journey from the Arctic to the Antarctic in search of the deadliest animals on Earth.
How to Build a Planet (2×50’) introduces the greatest ever engineering project designed to build planets, solar systems and galaxies from scratch and, using stunning interactive CGI, it reveals step by step how a world is put together. The series is a BBC/Science Channel co-production and the presenter-led version features Richard Hammond (Top Gear).
Factual entertainment titles include The Moaning of Life, a funny and insightful five-part travelogue with a difference, presented by Karl Pilkington (An Idiot Abroad) as well as the 20th series of the world’s most popular car show Top Gear with special highlights including Top Gear Top Fails, Top Gear: The Worst Car In The History of The World, Top Gear’s Top 41 and Top Gear Festival: Sydney.
