Keshet International has revealed its Spring 2022 slate at a virtual preview event for international buyers, headlined by a raft of newly acquired factual shows, foreign-language dramas, and formats – including Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism? (UK), Scotland: Escape to the Wilderness (UK), Roomies (Finland), Storm Lara (Belgium), Deep Crime Unit (Japan), Question Team (UK) and Family Dinner Date (Israel).

Keren Shahar, KI’s COO and President of Distribution, says, “We are thrilled to be launching our new slate to buyers ahead of MIPTV today. These virtual events are a great tool for us to connect with buyers we are still unable to meet in person, while also showcasing our upcoming slates in an entertaining and informative way. We are excited to have two new formats alongside another strong raft of foreign language dramas and factual finished tape – comedy quiz show Question Team and divorcee dating format Family Dinner Date.”

The global content producer and distributor has acquired Flicker Productions’ Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism?, a 1×60’ documentary that sees British Paralympian Ellie Simmonds travel around the UK and the US to examine a new drug that promises to increase the growth rate in children born with Achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. In this a powerful and timely film for BBC One, Ellie reflects and draws on her own experiences to ask wider questions about the relationship between science, diversity and disability. Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism? is currently scheduled to premiere on BBC One on 5 April 2022.

KI is also distributing the finished tape for Hello Halo Productions’ Scotland: Escape to the Wilderness, a 4×60’ factual entertainment series for Channel 4. Some of Britain’s best-loved celebrities, including actors Martin Clunes and Ben Miller, get up close and personal with Scotland’s spectacular wildlife and stunning scenery, immersing themselves in nature with wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin as their guide.  

To bolster its growing catalogue of foreign-language dramas, KI has acquired both the format and finished tape rights for Dionysus Films’ Roomies (10×60’), an intelligent drama-comedy recently reordered by CMore and MTV Finland for a second season, that overturns the presumptions that life is somehow easier when you get older or is more carefree in your youth. When widower Raimo finds himself alone in the run-down family mansion, he and granddaughter Amanda concoct a story that soon becomes a reality: they are roommates… along with some of their closest friends, with everyone finding their way in life and determined to live every day to its fullest.  

KI has also picked-up the format and finished tape rights to Storm Lara (4×30’/1×120’), a real-time thriller produced by Belgium’s A Perfect View for Flemish streamer Streamz that was showcased as part of this year’s Berlinale Series Market Selects. In Storm Lara, love, jealousy, adultery and lies collide live on-air during a late-night radio show, leaving five lives forever changed. 

In addition, KI is distributing the format and finished tape (outside Asia) for DCU: Deep Crime Unit (10×60’), the world’s first SCUBA diving crime procedural which was co-developed by KI and Facet4 Media for TBS in Japan.  The DCU is the Japanese Coast Guard’s elite diving squad – a group of highly skilled SCUBA experts who are also cops and forensic specialists.  While the team are adept at dealing with criminals, battling their own demons might tear them apart in this suspenseful crime drama amplified by the life-and-death nature of deep diving. 

 On the formats side, KI is representing Interstellar’s comedy quiz show, Question Team, originally developed for UKTV’s Dave. This new panel format re-writes the rulebook by making its players set the questions, with each show featuring three different celebrity guest comedians who prepare and host a unique round of questions, inspired by their own interests, for the others to play. One of Dave’s top-performing commissions of 2021, Question Team has been recently re-ordered for a second 8×60’ series by UKTV, and KI has already sold the tape into Australia (SBS) and New Zealand (TVNZ).

KI will also be launching to market Artza Productions’ Family Dinner Date, a new 60’ dating format for Israel’s most-watched TV channel, Keshet 12. Searching for love after divorce is challenging for everyone, but it is even more challenging if you are a celebrity. Here our celeb – male or female – invites two eligible singletons, along with the celebrity’s family and friends, to dinner. So not only are they in direct competition, but they both also need to impress those who know and love our celebrity best! 

Alongside this slate of new content, KI will also showcase a raft of returning titles at MIPTV, including: 

• Monster Scripted’s Pørni S2 (6×30’), the second season of the authentic comedy-drama created by and starring Henriette Steenstrup as the hard-working single-mum who puts everyone else’s needs first;  
• Spiro Films’ False Flag S3 (8×60’), the third instalment of the rollercoaster ride of suspicion and deceit that is currently premiering on Keshet 12 in Israel, having been selected as part of this year’s Berlinale Series Market Selects; 
• Shenhar Productions’ The Baker and the Beauty S3 (4×60’), Keshet 12 and Assi Azar’s final chapter of Noa and Amos’ impossible love story, which sees our beauty Noa return to Israel to attend Amos’ upcoming nuptials to another woman; 
• Woodcut Media’s World’s Most Evil Killers S6 (20×60’), recently returned to Sky Crime for a sixth season, meaning KI now has 120 commercial hours of this evergreen factual title ready to go for new buyers (with a further 20×60’ episodes delivering later this year); 
• Hello Halo Productions’ River Hunters S3 (4×60’), Rick Edwards and Beau Oimette make a welcome return to Britain’s riverways and The History Channel in search of hidden treasure; 
• Crackit Productions’ Trucking Hell S5 and Casualty 24/7 S5 both returned to Channel 5 screens this year with a further 20×60’ episodes celebrating Britain’s everyday heroes of our motorways and Emergency Rooms.