Category: TV

Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce-fronted drama series A Spy Among Friends has found a new home in the U.S. following Spectrum’s move out of original series.

The spy thriller, which is a co-production with UK streamer ITVX, has landed at MGM+, the network formerly known as Epix.

It comes after the series premiered at the London Film Festival and ahead of its British launch in December.

The six-part series, which is based on Ben Macintyre’s book, tells the true story of two British spies and lifelong friends, Nicholas Elliott and Kim Philby.

A Spy Among Friends follows the defection of notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent, Kim Philby, played by Pearce, through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend, Nicholas Elliott, played by Lewis. The show examines espionage through their friendship, the fallout of which affects East-West relations to this day.

It will air in the U.S. in 2023. Anna Maxwell Martin (Line of Duty), Stephen Kunken (Billions), and Adrian Edmondson (Back to Life) also star.  

The series is produced by ITV Studios in collaboration with Sony Pictures Television.

Homeland exec producer Alexander Cary created the series and exec produces alongside Lewis, via his Ginger Biscuit Entertainment banner, Patrick Spence and Nick Murphy, who directs, with Bob Bookman, Alan Gasmer and Peter Jaysen exec producing for Veritas Entertainment Group.

Earlier this summer, Deadline revealed that Charter Communications was getting out of the original programming business and decided to shut down Spectrum Originals as Kathrine Pope, who oversaw the move, left to become President of Sony Pictures Television.

It is the latest British series for the linear network and streaming service, which has Rogue Heroes and Belgravia on its slate.

“I’m very happy to be bringing our Cold War tale of friendship and betrayal to MGM+. They’re the perfect partners for us and I can’t wait for people to see it,” said Damian Lewis.

“Alex Cary has brilliantly adapted Ben Macintyre’s historical novel about friendship, loyalty, and betrayal. He, along with Nick Murphy, Damian Lewis, and the remarkable cast led by Lewis and Guy Pearce, have brought to life this riveting tale of two British spies whose deep personal bond and long friendship is challenged by duplicity and deception,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “This series is emblematic of our new MGM+ brand and the rich, cinematic, and character-driven stories we aim to tell.”

Nick Holly, manager, writer, producer, and co-creator of the ABC comedy series Sons & Daughters, died Monday, November 21 of cancer, surrounded by loved ones at his home in Santa Monica, CA. He was 51.

Originally from Geneva, New York, Holly began his industry career in the mailroom at CAA following graduation from Rutgers University, where he played lacrosse. He later became an agent at Buchwald and went on to form the management company, Epiphany Alliance, Inc. In 2006, Holly teamed with client, Fred Goss, to create the half-hour comedy, Sons & Daughters, produced with Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video, which aired for one season on ABC. Holly managed a slate of writers for film, television, and Broadway, including Nell Benjamin, Matthew Flanagan, David McHugh, and Larry O’Keefe, among others.

He also was a writer on animated series The LeBrons.

“Holly loved the ocean, the wilderness, and traveling the world, climbing mountains from Baldy to Kilimanjaro” his family said in a statement. “A larger than life character and hilarious story teller, Holly regaled his many friends with epic tales from his myriad adventures. From the plains of the Serengeti to the produce aisle of Whole Foods, Holly was always the hero. He will be remembered by all who knew and loved him as a great thinker, philosopher, and lover of Scotch.”

Holly is survived by his mother, Michael Holly, stepfather Keith Moxey, sister, Lauren Holly, and girlfriend, Amy Shapiro.

A memorial for Holly will be held at St. Augustine By-The-Sea at 1227 Fourth Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401, on Wednesday, December 7 at 2 pm. Reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Holly’s name to the following charities: Upstage Lung Cancer and Heal the Bay.

Channel 5 Hails ‘Black Cab’ With Robert Glenister, Suzanne Packer & Sean Pertwee

Paramount’s UK terrestrial network Channel 5 has unveiled a four-part thriller, Black Cab, with Robert Glenister (Sherwood) , Suzanne Packer (In My Skin) and Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers, Gotham) starring. The contemporary thriller, produced by Story Films in association with All3Media International, will air next year. Black Cab will follow Glenister as a down-and-out Liverpool taxi driver, who begins to form an unhealthy obsession and twisted sense of world view of a late-night radio talk show host (Pertwee). Nick Saltrese (A Prayer Before Dawn) has penned the series and Diarmuid Goggins (Kin, Bulletproof) is the director, with Alex Jones (Penance, Witness No. 3) producing. All3Media International will handle global distribution. 

‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Producer The Garden Hires Exec Duo

ITV Studios-backed Squid Game: The Challenge producer The Garden has signed Small Axe associate producer Helen Bart and Celebrity Race Across the World exec Jo Harcourt-Smith to support an expanded slate. Both join the company as Executive Producers and will work across multiple genres. The Garden most recently won lucrative business from Netflix in the form of Squid Game: The Challenge with Studio Lambert, a spin-off competition format of the Korean smash hit. Bart most recently worked on Fight the Power for PBS and the BBC and collaborated with Steve McQueen on hit anthology Small Axe, while Harcourt-Smith’s credits include the likes of Celebrity Race Across the World and upcoming Netflix format Snowflake Mountain. “Helen and Jo exemplify the breadth of a slate that now stretches from formats to box-sets via a renewed docs heartland and that sees us making premium shows of scale both in the UK and internationally,” said John Hay, Joint CEO of The Garden.

Ealing Studios To Expand On 120th Birthday

London’s Ealing Studios, which calls itself the oldest film studio in the world, is expanding with a £20M development on its 120th anniversary. The Bridget Jones, Downton Abbey and One Night in Soho studio has received council permission to build a 14,000 sqft stage, 10,000 sqft new workshops and 35,000 sqft office space under a Net Zero Carbon Scheme. Ealing Studios said the new buildings will “honour the distinctive Art Deco aesthetic of the original 1930’s Grade II listed sound stages.” “Since the invention of film, Ealing Studios has been at the forefront of every new media revolution – and this is the next stage in our evolution, responding to a need for greater studio space as well as recognising the need to become a more sustainable industry,” said Barnaby Thompson, Ealing Studios Partner.

British Comedy Talent Board Sky Studios Comedy Scheme

Sanjeev Bhaskar, Liam Williams and Timewasters creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor are among the mentors for Sky Studios latest Sky Comedy Rep writing talent scheme with the Birmingham Rep. Eight new writers will spend the next six months on a paid training program to develop a script, each mentored by some of the UK’s biggest writing talents. The partnership was forged last year by Birmingham Rep Artistic Director Sean Foley and Sky Studios Creative Director of Comedy Anil Gupta. This year’s brief was to submit a sample of a one-act play set around the premise of Proposal in the Park. 

Wednesday is a new take on The Addams Family, the classic cartoon strip created by Charles Addams. The Netflix series focuses on the titular character played by Jenna Ortega with her family only appearing sprinkled throughout the season.

However, co-showrunner Miles Millar says that Wednesday’s family, which includes Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia and Luis Guzmán as Gomez, could be featured more in a second season.

“We felt like we just touched the surface with those characters and the actors are so amazing in those roles,” Millar told TV Line in an interview. “Catherine is, I think, an iconic Morticia. The relationship between Wednesday and Morticia is also essential to the show, and the idea that Wednesday is trying to forge her own path outside the family is important.”

Although Wednesday has not been renewed by Netflix for a new season, Millar says that they “definitely want to feature the family as we did this season in a couple of episodes if we were to get a second season.”

Ortega is receiving praise for her portrayal of Wednesday Addams, a character that her costar Christina Ricci played in 1991’s The Addams Family and the 1993 sequel Addams Family Values. Even though they both shared a set, Ortega said in an interview that she didn’t ask Ricci for advice because she didn’t want to “rip her off.”

“I think when she was on set, neither one of us said Wednesday once to each other,” Ortega told MTV News. “I don’t think she wanted to get in the way of my performance and feel like she was overbearing. And then I felt like I didn’t want to pull up something that she did 30 years ago, for one, the sake of my own benefit, but two, I didn’t want to rip her off. And I didn’t want to be too much like her.”

All episodes of Wednesday Season 1 are now available on Netflix.

France’s 2-1 victory in the World Cup group stage over Denmark on Saturday evening drew an average 11.6 million viewers to TF1 from the 5PM hour local time. This is second best audience score of the year for all programs and across all channels in the Hexagon. Upon entering the tournament last week,  Les Bleus set a record for viewership in 2022, and since June 2021.

Viewing figures peaked on TF1 at 14.6 million for the France/Denmark face-off on Saturday with a 63% share, which is significantly higher than Tuesday’s 48.1% share when France beat Australia.

For the first time since providing World Cup ratings, French audience measurement firm Médiamétrie is also keeping tabs on out-of-home viewing including in bars, restaurants and hotels. This year, owing to the controversy over host country Qatar, major cities in France are not erecting the usual giant outdoor screens. (BeIn Sport, which is carrying the entirety of the tournament, does not communicate ratings.)

In the second half on Saturday, Kylian Mbappé scored both goals for Les Bleus, bringing his total to three in the two matches so far this tournament. Mbappé’s career World Cup record increased to seven goals in just nine appearances.

The striker has also tied Brazilian legend Pelé as the only other player under 24 to mark seven World Cup goals. What’s more, Mbappé now has a total 31 international goals for France, level with Zinedine Zidane. German player Miroslav Klose remains the top scorer in the history of the World Cup with 16 goals across four tournaments.

Now qualified to move on to the round of 16, Didier Deschamps’ reigning world champions will next face Tunisia on Wednesday.

Today’s play includes Japan v Costa Rica, Belgium v Morocco, Croatia v Canada and Spain v Germany.

The United States went head-to-head with England on Friday in a historic World Cup match that drew 15.4M viewers for Fox.

The game, which ended in a 0-0 draw, is now one of the most-watched men’s soccer match on U.S. television. The current record holder is still the USA’s 2-2 draw against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in 2014, which was watched by 24.7M people.

Friday’s match is by far the most-watched game of the 2022 World Cup so far in the U.S.

Another 4.6M tuned in via Telemundo Deportes’ Spanish-language coverage of the match on Telemundo, Peacock and digital platforms. That’s the second most-watched World Cup Group Stage Match featuring a U.S. team in Spanish-language history — up 33% for the U.S.’ first match against Wales.

It’s also Telemundo’s second-most watched game of the 2022 World Cup after the Brazil vs. Serbia Thanksgiving matchup.

Friday’s match benefitted from a 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. ET start time on a holiday, which set it up for some impressive viewership. It was already widely expected to be a record-setter, especially after both the U.S. and England managed decent viewership for their first matches.

On Monday, the U.S. vs. Wales match scored 12M across Fox and Telemundo, while England’s fiery 6-2 win over Iran was viewed by 1.6M total viewers in the U.S. across FS1 and digital platforms. That match began at 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT, which explains at least in part why not too many U.S. viewers tuned in. On BBC, that match peaked with 8M U.K. viewers around lunchtime.

We know many of you spent Thanksgiving Day eating turkey (well, most of you), visiting with relatives, and watching football. Apparently, a whole lot of you were watching football, as a record 42 million viewers tuned in to Fox Sports and its streaming platform, taking in the Dallas Cowboys against the New York Giants.

A new regular season record was set by the contest, won by Dallas, 28-20. The game matched two NFC East rivals in a bout that will go a long way toward seeing who makes the playoffs.

The Giants were also involved in the previous record-setting game, held on Dec. 3 1990 and featuring Big Blue against the San Francisco 49ers.

Three Texas cities, as well as Las Vegas and Kansas City, were the leading markets for the Thanksgiving game, which was up 3% over last year’s comparable window.

But wait, there’s more.

Not to be outdone, NBC Sports is touting its presentation of the Minnesota Vikings’ down-to-the-wire 33-26 victory over the New England Patriots as the second-most watched Thanksgiving primetime game ever. It averaged a Total Audience Delivery of more than 26 million viewers, based on preliminary data, across NBC TV, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms.

Last night’s game, which featured numerous lead changes and a tied score in each quarter, averaged an approximate 25.9 million English-language viewers, ranking behind only the 2015 Bears-Packers game in primetime viewership on Thanksgiving (27.8 million viewers).

In addition, Patriots-Vikings ranks as the most-watched primetime regular season game since NBC Sports’ presentation of “The Return” by Buccaneers QB Tom Brady to New England last season (28.4 million on 10/3/21). 

Charles Koppelman, whose publishing and talent development vision made him one of the recording industry’s top executives, has died at 82.

No cause was given by his son, Brian, showrunner of Billions, and daughter Jenny Koppelman Hutt. “He spent his last days surrounded by those he loved the most,” his son wrote on social media.

Koppelman saw the potential of music publishing early in his career.

He began his career as a singer and songwriter, part of the legendary Aldon Music staff under CEO Don Kirshner that included Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

He moved on to CBS Records in the 1970s, rising to VP/GM of worldwide publishing. He saw the potential of owning songwriter rights and formed his own company with CBS executive Martin Bandier and Bandier’s father in law, NY real estate king Samuel LeFrak. The company managed song catalogs for Barbra Streisnd, Dolly Parton, Diana Ross and Cher, among others.

In 1986, Koppelman, Bandier, and Stephen C. Swid formed SBK Entertainment World, Inc., in order to buy the 250,000 titles owned by CBS Songs for $125 million, the highest price ever paid for a music publishing portfolio at that time.

That deal made SBK the largest independent music publisher in the world, boasting a roster that included Michael Bolton and New Kids on the Block, among others.

They sold SBK to EMI Music in 1989 for $300 million. That deal allowed the formation of SBK Records, where Koppelman served as Chairman and CEO. The label was an instant hit, with Technotronic’s “Pump Up The Jam” becoming its first platinum seller, followed by major albums from Wilson Phillips and Vanilla Ice.

In 1991, Koppelman and Bandier sold their share of SBK Records to EMI Music. But Koppelman became the chairman and CEO of newly consolidated EMI Records Group North America. Koppelman served as CEO until 1997.

From 2000 to 2004 Koppelman was Chairman of Steve Madden, Ltd., leading that company while Madden was dealing with prison time for securities fraud. After that, he became chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. He moved on in 2011, joining various entertainment industry boards.

No memorial plans have been announced.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here. World Cup fever has gripped Deadline Towers and while our U.S. colleagues gobble up their turkey with all the trimmings, we’ve got plenty to round up in the world of international TV and film.

Shifting The Goalposts

Controversy keeps on coming: Those who thought the Qatar World Cup controversy would melt away when the real action started were sadly mistaken. It is hard to keep track of happenings off the pitch during a fast and furious first week of the world’s biggest sporting tournament but the tone was set by a helplessly bizarre tirade from FIFA boss Gianni Infantino Saturday, in which his robust defense of the Gulf state led with a much-mocked “Today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African, today I feel gay” before he went on to equate serious human rights plights with him being bullied as a child for having red hair. Gianni’s peculiar outburst preceded an opening ceremony featuring Morgan Freeman and BTS’ Jung Kook but some weren’t interested. In a controversial move, the BBC chose to only show the ceremony on an online live stream, while the main channel program featured an extended critique of Qatar and FIFA by host Gary Lineker and a trio of pundits. Speaking on a podcast yesterday, Lineker said he was in part driven by the BBC’s failure to speak up more about human rights issues during the previous World Cup, which was held in Russia, addressing critics that have blasted the BBC for coverage “tinged with orientalism,” per our analysis earlier this month.

Protests & non-protests: Following an opening game that went almost without incident (Qatar was downed 2-0 by an impressive Ecuador side), all eyes turned to England’s opener with Iran, and anthems and armbands were on the mind. On the day that two prominent Iranian actresses were arrested for colluding and acting against Iran’s authorities, the Iranian footballers resolutely refused to sing the national anthem in protest at the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in custody in September. England, meanwhile, volte-faced on captain Harry Kane’s wearing of a One Love armband after FIFA said he would receive a yellow card if he did so. It appeared an on-the-pitch punishment was too much for England or the eight other One Love nations to bear, having previously said they would happily take a fine for wearing the armband.

On the pitch: Millions have been tuning in across the week for some of the big games. France’s clash with Australia scored a 2022 record for local network TF1, 12M tuned in for the U.S.’ debut draw with Wales (pictured) on Fox and Telemundo and England’s Iran game on Monday lunchtime managed a peak of 8M as soccer-mad city types snuck off to the pub. Interestingly, 4M more watched the U.S. game than the England game in the UK. And the tournament has already been replete with on-the-pitch surprises, as Japan overcame Germany and Saudi Arabia put in an incredible performance to defeat one of the tournament’s favorites, Argentina, on Tuesday. Eyes now turn to the ‘soccerball derby’ with England taking on the U.S. tonight at 7 p.m. GMT (11 a.m. PT). Plenty more to come from Deadline both on and off the pitch.

La Casa De Netflix

Opening doors: Netflix opened the doors to its production hub in Tres Cantos, Madrid earlier this week as it unveiled five new studio spaces on the lot, including the streamer’s first in-house post-production facility. Our very own Zac Ntim headed to the Spanish capital with journalists and Spanish industry professionals, and was given a tour of the expansive site. The event ended with an onstage Q&A event. During the session, Verónica Fernández, Director of Series for Spain and Portugal, said the new facilities “guarantee” that creatives in Spain will have the “means to continue to tell their stories.” Fernández also confirmed that the streamer is set to reach more than 30 Spanish-language projects across film, series, and non-fiction documentaries by the year’s end.

Steven Spiel-Bear

“Factory of Dreams”: None other than world-famed director Steven Spielberg will receive the Honorary Golden Bear at next year’s 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, it was revealed Tuesday. Introducing the news, Berlinale director duo Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian hailed a man who has “given a new meaning to the ‘cinema’ as the factory of dreams,” and it was hard to think of greater praise for the 19-time Oscar nominated auteur. Spielberg will be handed his award at the long-awaited not-at-all-virtual Berlinale in mid February, coming just a few weeks before the launch of one of his most autobiographical works to date, The Fabelmans, which will be released by Universal Pictures Germany in German theaters in March.

Wake Me Up Before You Goa Goa

A bit IFFI: To India next, where our Asia expert Liz Shackleton has been navigating the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) with aplomb. One of Asia’s largest festivals featured a hugely insightful talk from beloved Kung Fu Panda and The Little Prince director Mark Osborne, who discussed Miyazaki, his creative processes and the impact Netflix has had on global animation audiences. One of many nuggets included the revelation that Osborne tried to show Japanese animation master Miyazaki The Little Prince but “he famously doesn’t see other people’s movies,” although Miyazaki is rumored to have “taken a trip in the Sahara Desert to experience something that happens in the book.” More here. Meanwhile, Liz found time to sit down with Drishyam 2 star Ajay Devgn to discuss the movie that was partly filmed in the Indian beachside state, his thoughts on the current state of Hindi-language (a.k.a. Bollywood) cinema and some of his upcoming projects. And Liz even had time to break this agenda setter on Mumbai’s Impact Films planning theatrical releases for some of the biggest movies of the past 12 months, including Brendan Fraser starrer The Whale, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness and A24’s global breakout Everything, Everywhere All At Once.

Public Service Announcement

Collaborate to compete: Public broadcasting has never been more threatened than it is today: whether that’s due to audiences migrating to global streamers, fake news and disinformation undermining its values of openness and truth or the economy stretching budgets paper-thin. No wonder then, that every year many of the world’s top PSBs get together at the Public Broadcasters International conference to extoll the virtues of their existence and give each other a pat on the back. Constantly being kicked and judged can be a tiring business but when Jesse caught up with three top dogs of the PSB world – CBC/Radio-Canada’s Catherine Tait, the ABC’s David Anderson and RNZ’s Paul Thompson – he found them full of fighting spirit and hope for the future. In a wide ranging interview, Tait addressed CBC’s spiky license renewal talks, Anderson was quizzed on how he’s changing his commissioning structure and Thompson talked about the merger between his radio broadcaster RNZ and television network TVNZ. If, like us on the Deadline International TV desk, you enjoy all things broadcast policy, you’ll want to read the Q&A in full.

‘The Voice’ Heads Underground

“Light in their souls in the darkest night”: There have been many stories of sheer positivity, goodwill and innovation in the face of adversity since the Ukraine war started nine months ago and The Voice finale taking place 75 metres underground in a station doubling up as a bomb shelter was certainly one of them. With the finale delayed for months due to the February invasion by Russia, producers at 1+1 Media organized a sendoff worthy of a gong for every member of the production team, as the format’s final episode beamed from Maidan Nezalezhnosti under Kyiv Square. With generator-powered lights in operation due to the constant Kyiv blackouts, folk singer Maria Kvitka (pictured) came away victorious against a group of performers including a Ukrainian paramedic recently freed from Russian captivity. It looked a beautiful evening, summed up by 1+1’s Head of Big Shows Volodymyr Zavadyuk proclaiming: “We tried so that Ukrainians had light in their souls in the darkest night.” Meanwhile in the embattled European nation, Ukrainian producers will collectively receive the 2022 Eurimages Co-Production Award in a show of solidarity.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Baz Bamigboye’s banger of the week was this mega casting update on Sam Mendes’ play based on Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and John Gielgud’s Broadway Hamlet.

🌶️ Another One: House of the Dragon star Emma D’Arcy has dropped out of Anna Politkovskaya biopic Anna, replaced by Naomi Battrick.

🌶️ Getting hotter: Per Jesse, British author C.J. Tudor’s debut The Drift is set for a TV adaptation.

🍿 Box office: China has given a theatrical release to James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water per Nancy’s analysis.

📚 Book deal: Death in Paradise indie Red Planet is adapting two more novels by Our House author Louise Candlish.

🤝 More M&A: Fremantle was at it again, taking a majority stake in Israeli Shadow of Truth producer Silvio Productions.

🏆 Awards latest: BBC One’s Vigil and Netflix’s Sex Education won big at the International Emmys.

🏕️ Festivals: Palestinian director Firas Khoury’s politically-charged Alam triumphed at Cairo Film Festival.

⚖️ In the balance: French streamer Salto, with partners reportedly holding talks over a potential sell off.

🐦 Chief Twit latest: Twitter’s Brussels office, which played a key role in relations with the European Union, has shuttered.

🖊️ Signed up: Aleksey Ageyev, multi-hyphenate producer, joined Artist International Group as Partner. Matt Grobar with this one.

🎥 Trail: Nicholas Winding Refn’s Copenhagen Cowboy has unveiled full trailer and set a January 5 release date.

🖼️ First look: At My Crime, French auteur François Ozon’s latest movie.

Zac Ntim and Jesse Whittock contributed to this week’s International Insider.

Just before the arrival of Santa’s sleigh, Mariah Carey closed out the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with a performance of her signature holiday hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” You can watch it below.

Wearing a bejeweled crown and a pink gown with a matching umbrella, Carey sang the song flanked by dancers. She was helped by her 11-year-old twins Monroe and Moroccan, who sang and danced behind her.

As usual, the parade featured a packed roster of performers. In addition to Carey they included Paula Abdul, Jordin Sparks, Lea Michele, Dionne Warwick, Betty Who, Big Time Rush, Gloria Estefan with her daughter Emily and grandson Sasha, Sean Paul, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, and Fitz and the Tantrums, among others.

RELATED: ‘All I Want For Christmas’ Is A No. 1 Single: Mariah Carey Gets Her Wish – Again

Al Roker missed his first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 27 years today as he recovers from a recent hospitalization.

The parade aired live on NBC and Telemundo and streamed on Peacock.

Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery is to lead Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s personal drama This Town for the BBC.

Knight’s six-parter is rolling the cameras in Birmingham and has cast a string of other British actors including Nicholas Pinnock (Marcella) and David Dawson (My Policeman).

Previously called Two Tone, the show tells the story of an extended family and four young people who are drawn into the world of ska and two-tone music, which exploded from the grass roots of Coventry and Birmingham in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, uniting black, white and Asian youths.

Universal Music Group’s Mercury Studios is co-producer and will “bring in an exciting range of high profile musical artists to help lay the backdrop for Knight’s incredible story,” according to the BBC. Mercury is co-producing alongside Banijay-backed Kudos and Nebulastar in association with Kudos North, Stigma Films and Nick Angel.

“This is a project very close to my heart,” said the prolific Knight, whose war drama SAS: Rogue Heroes is currently airing on BBC One.

“It’s about an era I lived through and know well and it involves characters who I feel I grew up with. It’s a love letter to Birmingham and Coventry but I hope people from all over the world will relate to it.”

Knight is creator, writer and exec producer alongside Karen Wilson, Martin Haines, Katie McAleese, Jo McLellan, Laura Conway, Matthew James Wilkinson and Nick Angel. Paul Whittingon is director, Charlotte Surtees is producer and Banijay Rights is distributing internationally.

Kelsey Grammer is opening up about David Hyde Pierce’s decision not to return to the upcoming Frasier revival series on Paramount+. Hyde Pierce played Grammer’s titular Frasier Crane’s younger brother on the Emmy-winning Cheers spinoff series.

“David basically decided he wasn’t really interested in repeating the performance of Niles,” Grammer told People in an interview.

After Frasier, Hyde Pierce went on to successful theater career and most recently starred in the HBO Max series Julia.

Grammer said Hyde Pierce’s decision not to return actually has worked out well in terms of the new series’ storyline.

“In a very funny way, it just took us to a new place, which was what we originally wanted to do, anyway, which was a Frasier third act,” Grammer told People in the interview. “It’s an entirely new life for him.”

Hyde Pierce previously told Vulture it’s not a given that he would return to the revival series.

“That whole time of my life, the writing on those shows, the actors I got to work with — all of that is deeply important to me. And I would never disrespect that in such a way as to say just offhandedly, ‘Oh, no, thanks. I’m not going to do that again.’ It’s too valuable to me,” he told Vulture. “But by the same token, because it’s so valuable to me, I also wouldn’t do it just do it. And I believe it can be done without me, too — finding new stories to tell, in the same way that Frasier did after Cheers. They didn’t bring along the Cheers gang to make a new show. They popped in from time to time and that was a blast, but there was something else that needed to be said, and it needed to be said in a different way. And maybe they will find that and I’ll be in it, or maybe they’ll find it and they won’t need me to be in it.”

Grammer will be reprising his signature character, psychiatrist-turned-radio host Frasier Crane in the follow-up series. Details about the new series are not being revealed beyond the fact that it is focused on Frasier Crane’s (Grammer) next chapter in a different city. He will be surrounded by new characters, with several original Frasier cast members not expected to be series regulars but could make guest appearances.

Frasier ran for 11 seasons between 1993 and 2004 on NBC, winning five Best Comedy Series Emmys. Created by the late David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee and produced by Grammer’s Grammnet Prods. and CBS Studios’ predecessor Paramount Network Television, Frasier starred Grammer, Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves, Peri Gilpin, and the late John Mahoney.

The new incarnation of Frasier comes from writers Chris Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and Joe Cristalli (Life In Pieces), who exec produce with Grammer, Tom Russo and Jordan McMahon. The series will be produced by CBS Studios in association with Grammer’s Grammnet NH Productions.