MIPTV Spotlight: Banijay Rights

CANNES: Leading off Banijay Rights’ format slate is The Bravest, a reality event series that is launching in both Denmark and Sweden.

“Unlike other physical game shows, it delves deep into the psyche of its contestants, forcing them to overcome their most primal fears,” says Andrew Sime, the company’s VP of formats. “It’s a game that mixes moments of individual courage with long-term strategy.”

The company also has a new singing format out of South Korea, Fantastic Duo. “It combines the appeal of classic singing formats with the very latest in interactive technology and allows members of the public to take part in remote duels with their musical heroes,” Sime explains.

He describes The Legacy as having “a high-stakes mixture of luck and skill.”

Based on Åsa Larsson’s best-selling crime novels, Rebecka Martinsson is set in the remote landscape of northern Sweden and centers on a lawyer who has yet to find peace with herself. It comes from the Scandinavian producers Yellow Bird. “Having had global success with previous adaptations The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Wallander, this new series offers the same visceral landscapes and thrilling narratives that audiences crave from the Nordic noir genre,” says Chris Stewart, VP of sales at Banijay Rights.

The company is also presenting Baroness von Sketch Show, which satirizes daily life, and Dear Murderer, produced for TVNZ. Dear Murderer brings to the screen the story of New Zealand’s most high-profile criminal lawyer, Mike Bungay, who famously defended more than 100 homicide cases.

There is a slate of new crime-centric shows in the Banijay Rights catalog, among them American Justice. “With much of the world keeping a keen eye on what’s happening in the U.S. right now, American Justice will give real insight into the criminal justice systems there, through the prism of seven homicides and filmed over one long, hot summer in Florida’s murder capital,” says Emily Elisha, the company’s head of factual.

There is also Murder Calls, a six-part true-crime series highlighting the telephone calls that cracked open one of Australia’s most shocking murder cases. I Married a Murderer tells the stories of couples whose marriages end in murder. The show is produced by Bellum Entertainment, which are “specialists in re-creation-based U.S. true-crime,” Elisha says. She adds: “The global appetite for factual crime programming shows no signs of diminishing.”