Shaftesbury Taps Granada for Sales on New Drama

LONDON, April 18: Granada
International has acquired the distribution rights to The Murdoch Mysteries,
a new drama series from
award-winning Canadian producer Shaftesbury Films.

The Canadian outfit is
producing 13 one-hour episodes for worldwide launch at MIPCOM. The series is
based on the trilogy of successful TV movies also produced by Shaftesbury Films
and distributed by Granada International, starring Peter Outerbridge and Keeley
Hawes, which were in turn adapted from the popular and award-winning novels of
Maureen Jennings. The new television series will be produced for CHUM and UKTV.

Set in Victorian Toronto,
The Murdoch Mysteries reacquaints
viewers with young Detective William Murdoch, who uses progressive forensic
techniques such as finger printing to successfully solve cases and apprehend
murderers.

Noel Hedges, Granada
International’s head of drama, noted: “This series immediately attracted our
attention. It feeds off many dramatic elements of our most successful period
detective brands such as Agatha Christie’s Poirot and The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes but reinvigorates the genre through the use of
forensic techniques and science—as if Sherlock Holmes met CSI. We’re very excited about the international sales
potential of the series, we believe detective programming and crime to be a
strong component of our drama portfolio and Murdoch adds to this cannon in an
interesting, entertaining and modern way.”

In other Shaftesbury news,
the company has appointed JTMG, headed by Joy Tashjian, as the licensing and
merchandising agency of record for the global hit series Life with Derek. JTMG will structure a merchandising campaign that
will debut at Licensing Show in New York. Tashjian and her team will license Life
with Derek in all categories in
North America with a primary focus on publishing, electronics, mobile, apparel
and accessories.

Life with Derek was commissioned by The Family Channel and has
been sold to a host of international broadcasters, among them Disney Channels in
the U.S. France and Italy and Nickelodeon for Southeast Asia.