Smithsonian Networks Takes New Shakespeare Doc

LONDON: Passion Distribution has sold the HD special Stealing Shakespeare, a True North production for BBC One, to Smithsonian Networks in the U.S.

The one-hour doc will be launched at MIPCOM. It follows the story of Raymond Scott, who was found guilty of handling stolen goods and smuggling the 387-year-old books (William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies) to the U.S., and was subsequently given an eight-year prison term.

Sally Miles, Passion’s CEO, said "When we first saw a cut we believed this would be a perfect film for the Smithsonian schedules. It is an extraordinary story of one man’s quest to sell a First Folio at all costs. The journey of authentication in Washington D.C. through to a court verdict makes this a real drama of Shakespearean proportion!”

"This is one of those real-life detective stories that you couldn’t make up," said David Royle, Smithsonian’s executive VP of programming and production. "It centers around the theft of one of the most important and valuable books in the world, and features a larger-than-life suspect who appears to be straight from central-casting. It’s the type of dramatic non-fiction that we love to showcase on the Smithsonian Channel.”