GREENLIGHT
Starzplay has greenlit a six-episode second season of hit travel documentary series “Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham,” featuring “Outlander” stars Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. They will hit the road again, this time in New Zealand. Developed by Heughan and McTavish, the original series is produced by Boardwalk Pictures, in association with Sony Pictures Television.
Heughan and McTavish conceived the original idea and serve as executive producers alongside Alexander Norouzi, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard, Sarina Roma and Kevin Johnston who also serves as director.
The first season saw Heughan and McTavish having an adventure in Scotland.
SALES
Keshet International has completed a raft of deals on crime thriller series “Furia” to Scandinavian streamer Viaplay in 26 new territories, including Poland and the Baltics; Filmin in Spain; Cellcom tv in Israel; and Mola TV in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; alongside the previously announced pre-sale to SBS in Australia.
Keshet has also licensed all three seasons of Norwegian comedy-drama “Pørni” to Viaplay in multiple markets and to NPO in the Netherlands, in addition to the previous deals inked with HBO Max in 39 territories across Latin America and Filmin and Cosmo TV in Spain.
Popular on Variety
In addition, Keshet has sold Swedish satire “Fallet,” originally picked-up by Netflix in a global deal in 2018, to Viaplay in a broad range of markets.
SERIES
Lux Vide, the Italian company behind high-end series “Medici” and “Leonardo,” hosted a London screening of the first episode of its high-concept cop show “Blanca” featuring a blind policewoman specialized in an analytical listening and decoding technique that helps her solve tough cases.
The screening, for VIP buyers, was held at the spanking new Run Run Shaw preview theater at the BAFTA headquarters in London.
Addressing the attendees, Lux Vide CEO Luca Bernabei discussed the question of how to depict disability on screen without indulging in rhetoric, pity and making it superficial. The series depicts the protagonist as young woman who turns her weakness into a superpower who transforms her disability and her inability into her greatest strength, Bernabei said.
“Blanca” debuted to stellar ratings last week on Rai with 27% audience share (5.6 million viewers) making it the most watched TV series in Italy this year.
CASTING
Sonia Friedman Productions has revealed that Ruth Wilson will star in Ivo van Hove’s adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s “The Human Voice,” which he also directs with design by Jan Versweyveld. The play was originally produced by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. The production opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre on March 22, 2022, with previews from March 17, and runs for three weeks through April 9.
Cocteau’s novella was most recently adapted as a short by Pedro Almodovar, starring Tilda Swinton.