HBO’s Francesca Orsi Given Series Mania Award; ‘The Whirlpool’; Banijay Launch Winners; British Animation Awards – Global Briefs

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC was victorious in a bidding war with Netflix for Dear England amid fears for the future of British storytelling on television.

Annette Bening‘s first major TV series role has won the five-time Oscar nominee the Best Actress prize at this year’s Series Mania.

Jack Dunn Disney+ has released the first trailer for its series reboot of the classic sci-fi adventure series “Doctor Who,” lead by “Sex Education” star Ncuti Gatwa as the titular time jumper and Millie Gibson as his traveling partner Ruby Sunday. The premiere will stream on Disney+ on May 10 and release simultaneously worldwide (excluding the U.K.). In the United Kingdom, the series will premiere at midnight GMT on May 11 on the BBC iPlayer.

Series Mania was Warner Bros. Discovery’s European roll-out timeline for Max, announced Thursday at the climax of the Series Mania’s Lille Dialogues. The most keenly anticipated session was nearly Series Mania’ Forum first: a Netflix showcase hosted by a confident Larry Tanz who significantly proved the only goal streamer exec to drill down on volume commitment.

The boss of one of the world’s biggest TV distributors has predicted streamers will return to commissioning originals in bulk once they “break even.”

The wait for Max‘s European launch is nearly over.

Scottish actor Peter Mullan, whose credits include The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Westworld, Harry Potter, and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, passed through Series Mania in Lille this week, where he participated in what turned out to be one of the festival’s most raucous masterclass sessions. 

Ben Croll Of the many politically-tinged projects premiering at this year’s Series Mania, French thriller “In the Shadows” could very well claim the best pedigree. While showrunner Pierre Schoeller has spent a career tracing his country’s corridors of power through films like “Versailles” and “The Minister,” he found a most opportune creative partner working with politician Edouard Philippe to adapt the latter’s 2011 novel. Perhaps the name rings a bell.

HBO was built on the back of showrunners such as David Chase, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and Jesse Armstrong but is now facing a new dilemma involving directors.

Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald has won the €50,000 ($54,000) Series Mania Seriesmakers award.

The Crown” could well bow out in style on home soil, with the final outing of the show leading the list of nominees for the 2024 BAFTA TV and TV Craft awards, announced Wednesday. Netflix’s hit royal drama — which came to an end last year after six seasons — landed eight nominations in total, including for Dominic West, Elizabeth Debecki, Lesley Manville and Salim Daw in the performance categories.

EXCLUSIVE: Sky Studios and Groenlandia are readying feature film director Sydney Sibilia’s first TV drama series. Someone Killed Spiderman – Accidentally Famous (working title) is for Sky Italia and is about a non-conformist teenager who becomes on half of successful musical duo 883.

Callum McLennan Ancient Greek Aristotle got it right. The production whole is greater than the sum of its co-production parts. This was the sentiment at a Series Mania session titled ‘Fifty Shades of Co Pro’ on Tuesday.

Slovakian drama series Our People has won the Series Mania Co-Pro Pitch and taken home a €50,000 ($55,000) development prize.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor A panel moderated by the European Audiovisual Observatory at Series Mania Tuesday looked at four key trends in series production in Europe. Warning Signs?Gilles Fontaine, EAO’s head of department for market information, said there were warning signs of a downward trend in the number of seasons being produced, first in the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: AGC Television is dropping a hot TV project into this week’s Series Mania market in Lille.

Jane Tranter, the co-founder of Doctor Who and His Dark Materials producer Bad Wolf, has called on the UK government to update British television tax credits to promote domestic investment.

Isabelle Adjani and Famke Janssen are to star in thriller series for Netflix coming from France and the Netherlands.

EXCLUSIVE: France TV Distribution will be at Series Mania next week with Enjoy!, a drama series based on Benoit Marchisio’s novel Tout Complices!.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Media and entertainment powerhouse Banijay has launched joint venture Dynamic Ally Pictures in Germany, further expanding its scripted capacity in the country. The Berlin-based production company, founded and led by “Helgoland 513” executive producers Veronica Priefer and Johannes Kunkel, is dedicated to developing, packaging and distributing scripted content for the German and international market.