ITV Studios announces new pre-sales and unveils broad Fall Festival Drama slate 

ITV Studios announces new pre-sales and unveils broad Fall Festival Drama slate

London, 30 September 2021 - ITV Studios has announced pre-sales for a number of shows and unveiled a stunning new scripted slate of world-class English and non-English language titles due to be presented to global clients as part of its Fall Festival Drama day on Wednesday 6th October.

Announced today and one of the brand new shows being launched next week is new drama Litvinenko. Commissioned by ITV and the Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) Group, the compelling four-part drama, with renowned actor David Tennant in the title role, is written by George Kay and produced by Patrick Spence, ITV Studios and Tiger Aspect Productions. It tells the story of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer whose death, from polonium poisoning in November 2006, triggered one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the Metropolitan Police. 

Six-part spy thriller The Ipcress File (6x60, Altitude Films) has been sold in Australia to the Seven Network, in Hong Kong to Now TV, in India, Indonesia and Malaysia to Lionsgate Play and to Japan’s Tohokushinsha. 

The Long Call (4 x 60, Silverprint Pictures for ITV) and Showtrial (5 x 60, World Productions for BBC1) have been picked up in a number of global territories. The Seven Network has acquired Showtrial, while SBS in Australia and AXN Mystery in Japan have licensed The Long Call, and TVNZ in New Zealand, SVT, DR, YLE, NRK, NPO, VRT in the Nordics and Benelux regions have boarded both.  

ITV Studios will be launching a number of other new shows to the market next week.

The up-coming adaptation of Louise Candlish’s best selling-novel Our House (4x60, Red Planet Pictures), starring Martin Compston, Tuppence Middleton and Rupert Penry-Jones leads the new slate. Our House tells the four-part story of Fi Lawson (Middleton), who arrives home one day to find a family of strangers moving into her house and her husband, Bram (Compston), has disappeared. As the nightmare takes grip, both Bram and Fi try to make sense of the events that led to a devastating crime and how they each are going to survive the chilling truth.

Eagerly-awaited drama Holding, 4x60 produced by Happy Prince for ITV and Port Pictures in association with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and co-produced by Virgin Media Television, is bursting with talent both on screen and behind the camera. Game of Thrones’ Conleth Hill leads the all star cast featuring Brenda Fricker and Siobhán McSweeney. The four hour-long series is an adaptation of a novel by TV stalwart Graham Norton and and will be brought to life by writers Dominic Treadwell-Collins (A Very English Scandal) and Karen Cogan (FLED, Young Offenders) and will be directed by Kathy Burke. Hill plays local police officer, Sergeant PJ Collins, a gentle mountain of a man, who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work. But when the body of long-lost local legend Tommy Burke is discovered, PJ is called to solve a serious crime for the first time in his career.  

Other shows to launch next week include:

Redemption - 6x60, Tall Story Pictures/Metropolitan Films for ITV & Virgin Media Television 

From the producers behind international hit, The Bay, Redemption is a compelling six-part drama written by Sean Cook, whose credits include The Ship and The Code, and directed by John Hayes, of Strike Back, Vikings and Bancroft fame. DI Colette Cunningham is a plain-speaking, dedicated detective on Liverpool’s Serious Crime Squad. But when a body is found and she is listed as next of kin, her world comes crashing down. She travels to Dublin to identify the body of her daughter who disappeared 20 years ago. If she did fail her daughter in life, Colette is determined to do right by her now - but is she prepared for what she finds?

Tell Me Everything - 6 x 60mins, Noho Film & Television for ITV2 

Gripping, entertaining and provocative coming-of-age drama. Full of heart, laughs, pathos, gut-punches, tenderness, darkness and hope, it tackles the most difficult of subjects, the life and death stuff, and how leaving childhood really plays out in the hearts and homes of today’s teens.  If you thought growing up was difficult, prepare to experience coming-of-age in the 2020s.

Vise Le Coeur - 6x60, Beaubourg Fiction for TF1

A brand-new series that comes from the same production company that made the hit show Profilage in France. Vise Le Coeur traces the fate of Julia Scola, a courageous and respected police captain and her best enemy, Novak Lisica, a criminal lawyer, over three decades. When Novak leaves his law firm to become a police chief and join Julia’s squad, fate brings them together again. Between past and present, their investigations explore childish terrors and adult nightmares – and reveal that the monsters are not always what we think they are.

Jerusalem - 10x60, Drama Team for HOT

A very human story of conflicting beliefs, power struggles, love and crime filmed in Jerusalem's Old City. As the officers of the David District prepare for two holy days in the Muslim and Jewish calendars tensions mount. Could this rare countdown be the perfect time to spark a war? From the producers of In Treatment and Hostages.

Spreadsheet - 8 x 30 mins, from Northern Pictures for Paramount + 

Brand-new comedy Spreadsheet centres on busy lawyer Lauren played by Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Humans) she’s freshly divorced, a mother of two, and looking for sex without commitment. Lauren hasn’t got the time or patience for a relationship. She’s not short on offers, but that’s the problem. With the help of best friend Alex, she develops the “spreadsheet”: a database of sex options, customised to ensure her sushi train of sex rolls around with variety and order amidst the chaos of her life.

Ten Year Old Tom - 10 x 30 mins, Work Friends / Tomorrow Studios for HBO Max

From Steve Dildarian (The Life & Times of Tim) and Nick Weidenfeld (Rick and Morty). A host of Hollywood names provide the voices - including Steve Dildarian and John Malkovich. Can a kid grow up these days without being corrupted by the world around him? In this new adult animated series, 10-year-old Tom grapples with this dilemma every single day - just by waking up and leaving his house.

Following the huge success of season one, Bump (Roadshow Rough Diamond for STAN Australia) is back with a second season, as is Romulus (Sky, Cattleya & Groenlandia for Sky Studios), Noughts & Crosses (Mammoth Screen for BBC1) and Petra (Cattleya in association with Bartleby Film for Sky Studio). 

ITV Studios’ hybrid Fall Festival will offer a dedicated space for buyers to connect with the team and take a deep-dive into it’s slate. The full line-up includes Market Meetings, where cutting edge technology will enable buyers to engage with the sales team, moving seamlessly between face-to-face discussion and video. There will be in-depth sessions on Our House, Holding and Litvinenko, plus exclusive updates on brand-defining dramas, including The Long Call, Showtrial, The Tower (3x60, Mammoth Screen/Windhover Films), Karen Pirie (3x60, World Productions) and much more.

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