BBC Worldwide Gears Up for 40th Annual Showcase

LONDON: Top Gear season 23 is leading the content slate for BBC Worldwide at this year’s annual Showcase event in Liverpool, taking place February 22 to 24.

More than 700 international TV buyers will get the chance to see new host Chris Evans share what’s in store for the latest season of Top Gear.

Leading this year’s drama slate is the BBC One commission SS-GB, starring Sam Riley (Control) and Kate Bosworth (Still Alice). Set in 1940s Britain, the series is adapted from Len Deighton’s best-selling thriller. The drama portfolio also includes One Of Us, a character-driven series from the writers of The Missing. New Blood is a brand-new investigative drama set in modern-day London. The Durrells is a feel-good series set in 1930s Greece and is based on Gerald Durrell’s Corfu trilogy. Also on the drama slate are War and Peace and Maigret.

In the way of natural history, Planet Earth II (original working title One Planet) is a new landmark series that is a decade on from the critically acclaimed Planet Earth. As for documentaries, sports star David Beckham sets out to play a football match on all seven continents in David Beckham For the Love of the Game.

Comedy titles include I Want My Wife Back, a romantic comedy series starring Ben Miller (The Armstrong & Miller Show) and Caroline Catz (DCI Banks).

The music catalogue includes They Will Have to Kill Us First, which documents the Jihadist takeover of Northern Mali in 2012 from the eyes of the country’s musicians.

Formats also feature prominently for BBC Worldwide this year. Titles include The Getaway Car, which sees couples compete in driving challenges.

Forces of Nature leads the science slate, combining accessible science and cutting-edge filming techniques to explain what lies beneath Earth’s beauty and what makes our world so vibrant and diverse.

Factual-entertainment highlights include Fishing Impossible, in which three fishing fanatics put their skills to the test.

With regard to history, BBC Worldwide is presenting Six Queens of Henry VIII, a four-part series that reveals the truth about King Henry VIII and his wives.

Looking at kids’ content, Spot Bots is a new CBeebies production. The sketch show helps preschoolers develop their attention skills by playing along with observation games and puzzles.

Paul Dempsey, the president of global markets at BBC Worldwide, said: “The range and quality of the great British shows in our catalogue is what makes Showcase one of the must-attend events on the sales calendar. And once again we’ve surpassed ourselves. We’ll be teasing the new look Top Gear, celebrating the full spectrum of British crime drama, launching the follow-up to one of the BBC’s most successful natural-history programs and introducing a stunning slate of U.K. dramas. We’ve also got a busload of industry experts offering insights into the latest trends and technology and welcoming some of Britain’s most-loved talent. There’s no better place to be than Liverpool in February.”