The Collection Lands in Sweden & Denmark

CANNES: BBC Worldwide has secured presales for the eight-part drama The Collection, which is launching at MIPTV, in Sweden and Denmark.

SVT in Sweden and DR in Denmark have acquired the Anglo-French co-production. The Collection, from writer, creator and award-winning showrunner Oliver Goldstick (Pretty Little Liars, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives), is set in Paris after World War II. Currently filming in France and Wales, The Collection is a Lookout Point and Artis Pictures production, co-produced with Federation Entertainment and MFP, for Amazon Prime, France Télévisions and BBC Worldwide, which also distributes the show internationally.

Goldstick and actors Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons, Kill Your Friends), Mamie Gummer (The Good Wife, Ricki and the Flash), Richard Coyle (Crossbones, Life of Crime, Going Postal) and Alix Poisson (Disparue, 3xManon, Parents mode d’emploi) are attending a special event at MIPTV hosted by BBC Worldwide and Lookout Point that will be held this evening. Emmy Award-winning director Dearbhla Walsh (Penny Dreadful, The Tudors, Esio Trot) and executive producers Anne Thomopoulos (Rome, Band of Brothers), Kate Croft (Murderland) and Pascal Breton (Marseille) are also taking part in the event. Frances de la Tour (The Lady in the Van, Vicious, Into the Woods, Hugo), Jenna Thiam (The Returned) and Irène Jacob (La Habitación, Dying of the Light, Three Colours Red) also star in the series.

Paul Dempsey, the president of global markets at BBC Worldwide, said, “The Collection represents superb storytelling, an amazing array of international on- and off-screen talent and partners totally committed to bringing this highly original, stylish drama to our screens. With Sweden and Denmark acquiring the series, Nordic audiences will be among the first to be transported to a different world as the story unfolds in post-war France.”

Stephen Mowbray, the head of acquisitions at SVT, commented, “Post-war Paris is the perfect setting for The Collection’s thrilling combination of intrigue and glamour and following the finale of Downton promises to captivate our Saturday night audience.”

Kaare Schmidt, series acquisitions executive at the Danish Broadcasting Corp., added, “With a backdrop of shortages and starvation on a scale worse than that of the Occupation, The Collection promises an epic drama—an odd mix of affluence and social tragedies, at the dawn of our present time. A compelling concept on a big canvas, which DR is proud to present as the finest of drama to our discerning audience.”