Australia’s ABC Picks Up DRG Titles

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LONDON: Australian pubcaster ABC has secured a deal with DRG for the prime-time drama Top Boy, as well as four documentary titles from Modern Television, Renegade Pictures and Telesgop.

Top Boy, from the producers of the Oscar-winning film The Last King of Scotland, stars Ashley Walters (Five Days 2, Small Island) and Kierston Wareing (The Shadow Line, Fish Tank). It will launch on ABC in January, with production beginning on season two in 2012. In addition, ABC1 will premiere the Channel 4 special Inside Incredible Athletes from Renegade Pictures, which uses iconic city locations to showcase the skills of elite athletes in the lead-up to the London 2012 Paralympics, and Wallis Simpson: The Secret Letters from Telesgop, which features recently discovered letters to chart Simpson’s life, relationships and fear of marrying Edward VIII. The broadcaster has also secured rights from DRG for the BBC commissioned Tea Party America, a road trip through America investigating the Tea Party movement, as well as Hidden Treasures of African, Australian and Indian Art, presented by Griff Rhys Jones.

Stuart Menzies, the controller of ABC2, said, “Top Boy is a superb addition to our drama lineup for 2012. Gang violence and drugs may be the setting, but it is the humanity that makes this compelling viewing.”

Patrick Roberts, the senior VP of international sales at DRG, added: “We’re very proud to be working with the ABC in bringing yet another slate of the very best in U.K. documentary and drama to its millions of viewers. Distinctive, bold and compelling; we feel confident that these newly acquired BBC and Channel 4 commissions will have as much impact on their 2012 schedule as the many successful titles DRG have delivered in 2011.”