ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) is set to launch a number of new scripted titles at MIPCOM 2014, led by US drama Aquarius, comedy Schitt’s Creek, period drama Poldark and Scandinavian mystery thriller Jordskott.
Maria Kyriacou, MD of ITV Studios Global Entertainment and ROW said, “Our MIPCOM 2014 scripted slate is truly international, coming from the territories associated with the best scripted content: major North American drama and comedy in Aquarius and Schitt’s Creek, prestigious British period drama in Poldark and Jordskott, a crime thriller from the region that does it best, Scandinavia. There’s something to appeal to everyone and we can’t wait to launch these titles at MIPCOM.”
Aquarius (Tomorrow Studios for NBC; 13 x 60’) stars two-time Golden Globe Award winner David Duchovny in his return to broadcast television. In this gripping event drama series set in the late 1960s, Duchovny stars as a Los Angeles police sergeant with a complicated personal life who starts tracking a small time criminal when he discovers that he is seeking out vulnerable women to join his “cause”. The name of that man is Charles Manson. The twists and turns of a complicated undercover operation draw Duchovny’s character and his young partner deeper into Manson’s sinister realm, trailing him on a path that will eventually lead to the Tate-LaBianca murders in subsequent seasons.
Schitt’s Creek (Not A Real Company Productions for CBC; 13 x 30’) – When filthy-rich video store magnate Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy), his soap star wife Moira (Catherine O’Hara), and their two kids – über-hipster son David (Daniel Levy) and socialite daughter Alexis (Annie Murphy) – suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to live in a small, depressing town they once bought as a joke. With their pampered lives now abandoned, they must confront their newfound poverty and discover what it means to be a family, all within the rural city limits of Schitt’s Creek, their new home. Schitt’s Creek is a character-driven, half-hour single-camera comedy created by Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy.
Poldark (Mammoth Screen and WGBH for BBC One and MASTERPIECE; 8 x 60’) – the classic book series that has thrilled generations returns to screens in an extraordinary new adaptation. It’s 1783. Ross Poldark returns home from the American Revolutionary War to a country in the grip of recession. His beloved Cornwall is on its knees. In his absence, his father has died, his land and mines have gone to ruin and his childhood sweetheart has become engaged to his cousin. Feeling betrayed by everything he loves, Poldark has to start his family legacy again: new business, new enemies and new love where he least expects it.
Jordskott (Palladium Fiction in association with SVT; 10 x 60’) is a gripping Nordic mystery thriller set in the deep ancient forests of Sweden. Seven years after the disappearance of her daughter Josefine, police investigator Eva Thörnblad is still trying to cope with the grief of her loss. Even though her daughter was said to have drowned, Eva knows in her heart that someone had taken her child on that fatal day by the Silverhöjd Lake. So when a young boy goes missing in the same forest of Silverhöjd, Eva returns to delve into the dark mystery that haunts her. As she is drawn into the investigation she learns that that there is a much deeper and darker force in operation but how far is she willing to go to protect the one she loves?
ITVS GE’s other new scripted titles for MIPCOM include Cilla (ITV Studios for ITV; 3 x 60’), Cockroaches (Big Talk for ITV2; 6 x 30’) and Remember Me (Mammoth Screen for BBC One; 3 x 60’). It will also launch the latest series of its long-running drama franchises, including Mr Selfridge series three, Vera series five, The Doctor Blake Mysteries series three, Lewis series eight and Murdoch Mysteries series eight.
