World Screen

LONDON: ITV2 has acquired the new U.S. comedy Mom, from executive producer Chuck Lorre (The Big Bang Theory), along with the past seasons of Lorre’s Two and a Half Men. Mom stars Anna Faris as a single mother, Christy, whose newly found sobriety has given her a new lease on …

LONDON: ITV has commissioned the three-part drama Prey, starring John Simm, alongside announcing renewals for the Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi comedy Vicious as well as The Job Lot and Plebs. In Prey, Simm will play Detective Constable Marcus Farrow, a cop and husband with two kids. His world falls …

LONDON: UKTV has commissioned Crackanory, a satirical show featuring Harry Enfield, Jack Dee, Sally Phillips and Richard Hammond, for broadcast on its entertainment channel Dave. Produced by Tiger Aspect Productions, Crackanory will watch as a variety of U.K. personalities take part in comedic storytelling. The 6×40-minute series includes a combination …

LONDON: Dame Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman have been lined up to lead the cast of Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot, a 90-minute movie for Endor Productions and BBC One that is slated to begin filming next year in London. Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot revolves around Mr Hoppy, a retired bachelor …

EDINBURGH: ITV has been named channel of the year at this year’s Edinburgh International TV Festival, while Broadchurch won the new program award. The 12th annual conference awards was hosted by Dara O Briain. The event named ITV as the channel of the year, reclaiming the win from last year’s honoree, …

LONDON: Zai Bennett, the controller of BBC Three, has announced a raft of new commissions for the channel, including Siblings, a comedy from the company that made The Inbetweeners. Also in the way of comedy/entertainment programming is the one-hour Seann Walsh’s Late Night Comedy Spectacular, featuring rising superstar Seann Walsh. The …

LONDON: Joonas Hytönen, previously the head of entertainment and executive producer at Moskito Television Oy, has been named CEO of Banijay Finland, formerly known as Solar Television. Hytönen became Moskito’s head of entertainment in 2010. He has sold and executive produced hit series such as Dancing on Ice, Survivor, Kitchen …

LONDON: Ofcom has commissioned a study that will look at viewers’ attitudes toward on-screen violence, in an effort to assess whether the amount of violence on British television has increased in recent years. The investigation will specifically look at shows scheduled before and immediately after the 9 p.m. watershed. The …

LONDON: Pierre Conte has become the new CEO of GroupM France, overseeing the local media investment management operations. Conte takes up the new role as of September 16, reporting to Dominic Grainger, the CEO of GroupM EMEA. He succeeds Bruno Kemoun and Eryck Rebbough, who will continue to support and …

LONDON: According to the latest pay-TV forecasts from Analysys Mason, the take-up for OTT is pacing ahead of traditional pay-TV services in Western Europe. The analyst forecasts that the number of households taking pay-TV services in Western Europe will increase by 9.2 million to 113.3 million, an 8.9-percent growth, between 2013 and …