TV Drama In-Demand Recap

TV Drama delivered a new round of In-Demand reports last month, allowing buyers to discover hot shows in two key areas: mysteries and thrillers and blue-sky series. If you missed these, here’s your chance to learn about some of the most-compelling scripted series on offer in the global marketplace. You’ll also find here a recap of our holiday TV movies report, spotlighting films that are sure to bring some Christmas cheer to schedules.

Mysteries & Thrillers 

From ZDF Enterprises, The Crimson Rivers now has a second season available. From Storia Television in co-production with Maze Pictures for France Télévisions and ZDF in cooperation with ZDF Enterprises, the series is set in a macabre world of gruesome crimes and harrowing rituals. Based on the best-selling novel from Jean-Christophe Grangé, it follows detective Pierre Niémans and his partner Camille Delauney as they investigate a series of bizarre crimes in remote regions of France. “Every once in a while, a drama comes along that is so brilliantly written and acted, it transcends language barriers and has audiences begging for more,” says Robert Franke, the VP of ZDFE.drama at ZDF Enterprises. “The Crimson Rivers definitely belongs in that category. Each case has a mystical touch, based on regional myths or forgotten customs, with Olivier Marchal portraying a striking Pierre Niémans.” To date, The Crimson Rivers has been sold to Netflix, NBCUniversal, Asmik Ace, Bontonfilm, Canal+ France and Poland, Edel, FTV Prima, GSN (Walter Presents), Ivi.ru, LNK TV, Okko, PTS, RTS, SBS, Showjet, Sonia Drago, Radio Canada, Top Media Distribution, TV3 Russia and many others. A CBC, Prime TV and Acorn TV commission, The Sounds from all3media international is set against the backdrop of New Zealand’s gorgeous but sinister and remote Marlborough Sounds. The 8×60-minute female-led thriller features anguished wives, philandering husbands, grieving mothers and sabotaged business deals. RTVE is offering up four seasons of its hit series The Department of Time. The series encompasses numerous landmark moments in history as it follows a special patrol unit at the Department of Time tasked with preventing the past from changing. Orange TV commissioned Caminantes from The Mediapro Studio’s 100 Balas. This horror/thriller found-footage-style series consists of 20-minute episodes, chronicling the 40-hour-long nightmare experienced by five teens who disappear while on a “Road to Santiago” pilgrimage. You can see the report here.

Blue-Sky Dramas

From action-packed procedurals to lighthearted mysteries and romantic dramas, viewers are seeking out a dose of escapism, and the shows in this report aim to deliver. LEONINE’s Professionals—Danger Pays, which is being distributed by Rainmaker Content, is set against a backdrop of international espionage and corporate sabotage in the 21st century’s privately funded space race, with a cast that includes Tom Welling, Elena Anaya, Brendan Fraser and Ken Duken. “This show is tailor-made for the worldwide marketplace,” says Greg Phillips, co-CEO of Rainmaker Content. “Created with really great production values and shot in some amazing locations, it’s fantastic to have such a broad, blue-sky action series that has been able to complete production and is ready to go, thrilling to watch and just the escape that audiences are looking for right now.” ZDF Enterprises has the upbeat crime procedural Queens of Mystery, produced by Sly Fox Productions for Acorn TV, on offer. The murder mystery series created for television by Doc Martin writer Julian Unthank follows a perennially single female Detective Sergeant (Matilda Stone) and her three aunts (Cat, Beth and Jane), who are well-known crime writers that help her solve whodunit-style murders, as well as set her up on blind dates. Calinos Entertainment is showcasing the long-running romance drama Forbidden Fruit, a MEDYAPIM production for FOX TV Turkey that has 223 hours available. Forbidden Fruit has been sold to Montenegro, Israel, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Paraguay, Greece, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and Vietnam.

Holiday TV Movies

Broadcasters worldwide are clamoring for uplifting content to fill their grids, and holiday TV movies are high up on programmers’ wish lists. GRB Studios is presenting Miss Me This Christmas, one of a slate of TV movies produced for TV One in the U.S. Before finalizing her divorce on Christmas Day, Regina (Erica Ash) meets an eccentric millionaire who forces her to come to grips with the choice she’s facing. The cast also includes Real Housewives alum Eva Marcille. The MarVista Entertainment portfolio includes two movies produced by Neshama Entertainment: Christmas Unwrapped and Christmas at Maple Creek. Executive produced by Tiffany Haddish, Christmas Unwrapped is a holiday rom-com about a cynical journalist who is offered the chance to write her newspaper’s holiday feature article. But when she learns her assignment is to profile a man who claims his charity is made possible thanks to Santa, her “bah-humbug” attitude threatens to ruin her career and a budding romance with her subject if she doesn’t learn to believe in the magic of Christmas. Christmas at Maple Creek features a romance novelist who finds inspiration for her next book while planning a Christmas gala to save the pioneer village of Maple Creek. But when she begins to fall in love with the charming local blacksmith, the handsome cover model from her previous novel shows up just before the gala, making her question who her heart really belongs to. Nicely Entertainment’s portfolio of holiday movies includes A Very Charming Christmas Town, set in the Danish village of Solvang in California. It premieres on Lifetime in 2020, alongside Nicely’s other releases, Lonestar Christmas, The Christmas Listing and Christmas on the Menu. You can see the Holiday TV Movies report here.