‘Games Of Thrones’ Exec Frank Doelger To Helm Surveillance Thriller Series ‘Concordia’ For ZDF, MBC, France Télévisions and Hulu Japan

Marks and Spencer has released the 2022 festive food advert featuring comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders as Fairy and Duckie.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first look at screen icon Robert De Niro, Bobby Cannavale and newcomer William Fitzgerald in new comedy Inappropriate Behaviour, which is in production.

EXCLUSIVE: Indian Two Time Grammy Award composer and environmentalist Ricky Kej has signed to compose the original music for American-Bangladeshi writer-director Asif Akbar’s spy action-thriller MR-9 featuring Frank Grillo as a villain.

EXCLUSIVE: Leila George (Animal Kingdom) is set to star alongside Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in Disclaimer, a new psychological thriller series from Alfonso Cuarón for Apple TV+.

EXCLUSIVE: Coda producer Vendôme Pictures has made two appointments and launched a documentary division. 

French director Cédric Jimenez’s thriller November has drawn one million spectators in France in its first two weeks on release, bucking the trend of the country’s recent lackluster box office, co-producer and distributor Studiocanal has announced.

Angelique Jackson Prepare for more Black lady hilarity as Robin Thede’s Emmy-winning HBO comedy series “A Black Lady Sketch Show” has started production on its fourth season. Created by and starring Thede, “A Black Lady Sketch Show” was renewed in June following a strong third season that netted two Emmys — one for outstanding picture editing for variety programming (a trophy the series has won in back-to-back years, with editors Stephanie Filo, Bradinn French, Taylor Joy Mason and S. Robyn Wilson honored for Season 3) and outstanding directing for a variety series (Bridget Stokes). The first three seasons of the sketch series have garnered 13 Emmy nominations and three wins.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Wild Bunch TV has boarded high-concept sci-fi thriller series, “Arcadia” from Belgian production shingle, jonnydepony (“Blackout,” “Transport”). Created by Philippe De Schepper and Bas Adriaensen, “Arcadia” refers to a post-global catastrophe society where its citizens’ rights and entitlements are determined by their scores. Life is good as long as you remain “healthy, focused and efficient.”  Four sisters, Luz, Milly, Alex and Hanna, retain top scores except for Luz. Their father, anxious to save Luz from being expelled to the Outer World, alters her scores but is caught. He is banished from Arcadia and the entire family is placed under surveillance, their scores slashed. The question now is whether they can get their old lives back.

Emiliano De Pablos Globoplay, the streaming platform of Latin American TV giant Globo, has picked up Brazilian rights to police noir thriller series “Motel Valkirias,” a Spain-Portugal co-production handled by Onza Distribution.  Created by Ghaleb Jaber Martínez, writer-producer of Netflix’s Galician TV drama hit “O Sabor das Margaridas,” the series is directed by Álex Sampaio (Schibare”) and Jorge Quiroga (“Atras das Nuvens”). In post-production, the eight episode 50-minute “Motel Valkirias” is set in a cross-border motel between Galicia and Portugal, following three women with financial and personal problems who get in serious danger after joining forces to get their hands on some valuable merchandise from a guest in the motel.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Six-time Primetime Emmy award-winner Frank Doelger, whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “The Swarm,” “John Adams” and “Rome,” and Intaglio Films, a joint venture between Beta Film and ZDF Studios, have started production on surveillance drama thriller “Concordia,” set in an experimental utopian community. ZDF, MBC, France Télévisions and Hulu Japan have signed up as partners for the six-part series, shot in English and directed by Barbara Eder (“The Swarm,” “Barbarians,” “Cop Stories”). Doelger helms as executive producer and showrunner, alongside the executive producers Ute Leonhardt, Rafferty Thwaites, Jan Wünschmann and Robert Franke. Shooting takes place at various locations in Rome, Northern Italy, and Leipzig in Germany.

Lise Pedersen At a time when heritage cinema is booming – thanks to outstanding progress in conservation standards and a growth in demand – Lyon’s Lumière heritage film festival Lumière is playing a leading role in uncovering long-forgotten cinematic gems.  “Dans la Nuit” (“In the Night”), widely considered one of the last, if not the last major French silent film, is one of them. It is the only film shot by French actor Charles Vanel, perhaps best remembered for his role as a desperate truck driver in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s acclaimed “The Wages of Fear,” which won both the Golden Bear and the Palme d’Or in 1953. Vanel also stars in the film, alongside Russian-French actress Sandra Milovanoff, who became a silent film era casualty as her Slavic accent was considered unsuitable for talkies. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent On a cobblestone-paved square in the ancient town of Tivoli, north-east of Rome, in late September, a large crew is prepping to shoot a key scene in Italian period drama “La Storia,” which will be pubcaster RAI’s biggest event show next year. Based on a bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – “La Storia” is set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy. The eight-episode series, being unveiled by Beta Film to buyers at Rome’s MIA content market, stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who earlier this year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution.

EXCLUSIVE: Dutch producer Submarine’s good week here in Rome at the MIA Market has continued as it unveiled its latest project.

Dawn French was "terrified" of dating again after her divorce from Sir Lenny Henry. The 'Vicar of Dibley' star tied the knot with therapist and charity co-founder Mark Bignell in 2013, but she has admitted she dreaded looking for love after her 25-year marriage to fellow comedian Lenny, 64, ended in 2010, because she's not very good at flirting. She told New Zealand's Woman's Weekly magazine: "Dating was difficult as I'm not an accomplished flirter.