Granada International Unveils DISCOP Slate

LONDON, June 18: Granada International will be offering an
extensive range of brand-new programming to Central and Eastern European buyers
at DISCOP this year, including The Jane Austen Collection, a trio of drama adaptations of the author’s novels.

The Jane Austen Collection consists of three costume drama adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels: Mansfield
Park, Northanger Abbey and Emma. Billie Piper (Dr Who, Ruby In The Smoke) stars in Maggie Wadey’s (The Bucaneers) adaptation of Mansfield Park, which was co-produced by Company Pictures and WGBH
Boston. Felicity Jones (The Worst Witch) stars as the young, naïve Catherine Moreland Andrew Davies’ (Bridget
Jones’s Diary) retelling of the Austen
classic Northanger Abbey, which
was co-produced by Granada and WGBH Boston. The Emmy-Award winning Emma
stars Kate Beckinsale, and was produced by
United Film and Television Productions in association with Chestermead and
A&E Network.

Other highlights from Granada’s DISCOP slate include the
4×50-minute conspiracy drama Mobile, which
reveals the power behind the mobile phone industry, and the 6×48-minute Durham
County, centered on a detective named Mike
Sweeney who moves his family to a seemingly idyllic suburb in the hope of
starting over, but must deal with the appearance of a local serial killer. The
95-minute drama Murder in the Outback, about the real-life murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio, will also
be offered.

Granada International will also serve up a number of
Hollywood TV movies in high-definition, including the disaster movie Swarm. In the movie, which stars Antonio Sabato Junior (Charmed,
Melrose Place), a swarm of deadly,
genetically mutated ants overwhelm a commercial airplane in mid-air, destroying
the aircraft and eating the passengers alive. Also in high-definition is And
She Was, starring Emmy-Award-winning
actress Kirstie Alley (Cheers; Fat Actress; Veronica’s Closet), who plays an Oscar-winning screenwriter named
Byrdie Langdon.

The factual programming slate includes the 6×50-minute
science series Perfect Disaster, which
reveals what could happen if the worst possible weather conditions and
circumstances combined to create monstrous natural disasters. The series was
produced by Impossible Pictures for Discovery Channel, ProSieben, M6, Five and Granada International. The
11×50-minute HD documentary series Planet Science covers diverse topics such as deadly
comets, the meltdown of glaciers, and the history of the military tank. The 3×50-minute HD wildlife documentary
series Natural Mysteries, a Tigress Production for National
Geographic Channel, Five and Granada International, traces the circumstances
behind mysterious and unusual events in the animal kingdom.

On the factual entertainment end, Granada will offer up the
10×45-minute HD series Crash Test Dummies, produced
by Granada for Sky, and the variety show The Friday Night Project, available as a 60-minute
format or a 40×25-minute finished program. Originally commissioned for Channel
4 in the U.K., The Friday
Night Project includes
hilarious comedy sketches, hidden camera stunts, spoof news bulletins, cash
prizes and a game show finale. It is now in its fourth season in the U.K. and
has peaked with a 30-percent audience share among adults aged 16-34. Finally,
the company will offer the new animated series Supernormal (52×11 or 26×22). Targeted at 8-12 year olds, the series follows four
friends at Superhero Junior High, a school for children with extraordinary
powers.