News

Investment

Ex-Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams, former Xix Entertainment president James Clayton, Hollywood entertainment lawyer Kevin Yorn and multi F1 Grand Prix-winning motor racing driver Mark Webber are among an eclectic group of investors who have together invested £2 million ($2.7 million) in U.K. production and distribution company Noah Media Group.

Noah’s credits include Grierson award-nominated “Finding Jack Charlton” and Cannes selection “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans” and the outfit has coming up “Arsène Wenger: Invincible,” a documentary on the soccer manager who changed the landscape of the English Premier League, which will debut on Canal Plus in France and a major streaming platform in the U.K. in 2022.

The funding raised will support the company’s growing ambitions in the filmed content space, under the founding team of chair Barry Smith, CEO and producer John McKenna and film and television directors Gabriel Clarke and Torquil Jones. It will also drive Noah’s self-distributing ambitions.

BBC1’s long-running business format Dragons’ Den is to shift production from Manchester to Scotland.

Producer BBC Studios’ factual entertainment team in Glasgow, which is run by former MasterChef and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares exec Adeline Ramage Rooney, will hire a number of editorial and production management personnel to work on the show.

Series 20 of Dragons’ Den will be the first to come from Scotland, although studio recordings will remain in Manchester for that run. The BBC’s forthcoming Weakest Link reboot is also being produced in Scotland.

The 19th series of business format Dragons’ Den kicks off in the new year on BBC1 and will see the youngest ever dragon, 29-year-old podcast host Steven Bartlett, join the show.

Hannah Wyatt, BBC Studios’ Managing Director for Factual Entertainment and Events Productions, said: “This is another really positive move for one of our factual entertainment jewels. I’m sure Scottish talent will...

Cannes Classics

Mark Cousins‘ documentary “The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas,” following the legendary “The Last Emperor” and “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” producer’s annual drive to Cannes, will be the pre-opener at the Cannes Classics selection this year.

Restored titles this year include “Friendship’s Death” by Peter Wollen, starring Tilda Swinton; “F For Fake” by Orson Welles; “Mulholland Drive” by David Lynch (2001 U.S.); “I Know Where I’m Going!” by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and “The Double Life Of Véronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski”.

The section will also celebrate the work of actor/director Bill Duke with a screening of “The Killing Floor” (1985); Japanese actor and filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s “Tsuki Wa Noborinu”; Spanish actor and filmmaker Ana Marisca’s “El Camino” from 1964; French maven Marcel Camus’ “Orfeu Negro” and Italian master Roberto Rossellini’s “Francesco, Giullare Di Dio”.

Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American director in the history of U.

In today’s Global Bulletin, Sky commissions supernatural thriller “The Rising” and Channel 4 and Peacock wage “The Undeclared War”; The Garden, BBC Studios Productions and Constantin Film Development reveal senior appointments; Rakuten TV expands AVOD offering; and Disney India picks up kids series “Dr Tenali Rama Hmkd” from Cosmos-Maya.

Commissions

Sky original series, supernatural crime thriller “The Rising,” is the first series produced entirely in-house from Sky Studios, Sky’s production and development arm. It tells the story of Neve Kelly who discovers that she is dead, and is determined to find her killer and get justice, believing that it was someone she knew.

The cast includes Clara Rugaard (“I Am Mother”), Nenda Neururer (“A Brief History of Struggle”) and Solly McLeod (“Boxing Day”), alongside Daniel Ings (“I Hate Suzie”), Emily Taaffe (“Rare Beasts”), Alex Lanipekun (“Spooks”) and Robyn Cara (“Ackley Bridge”).

The eight-part drama was commissioned by Zai Bennett,...

9-1-1 may be pulling in a crowd on Fox, but an unscripted series focusing on 911 call handlers has landed a series order at ABC.

The network announced today new series Emergency Call will debut this fall.

Hosted by actor Luke Wilson and produced by 8Hours Television, Emergency Call is a daring, new hour-long show documenting the first few crucial minutes of emergencies told through the lens of America’s heroic 911 call takers.

The series is set to premiere Monday, Sept. 28 (10:00-11:00 p.m. Edt), in the slot that The Good Doctor was supposed to call home.

The latter is currently on an extended hiatus due to Covid-19.

Hosted by Luke Wilson, Emergency Call follows the "dramatic moments leading up to the arrival of help rather than the events after the firefighters, police or emergency medical services teams arrive, and focuses on the extreme, suspenseful and sometimes humorous stories that flood 911 call centers,...

Luke Wilson is to front a non-scripted series that documents the first few minutes of emergencies told through the lens of America’s 911 call takers for ABC.

The Old School actor is hosting Emergency Call, which will launch on the network on September 28 at 10pm.

Emergency Call is produced by 8Hours Television, the production company founded by MasterChef exec producer Adeline Ramage Rooney and former Zodiak Media US boss Jonny Slow.

It based on a Belgian format, produced by De Chinezen for Vrt, which is repped internationally by Lineup Industries.

Ramage Rooney and Slow will exec produce with Wilson and Grant Kahler. The latter, who worked on ABC’s Castaways reality series, will act as showrunner.

The show follows the dramatic moments leading up to the arrival of help rather than the events after the firefighters, police or emergency medical services teams arrive, and focuses on the extreme, suspenseful and...

ABC has called in Luke Wilson to save its fall season.

The Disney-owned network has announced a new unscripted series titled “Emergency Call,” which will be hosted and executive produced by Wilson, and will premiere Sept. 28 in the 10 p.m. time slot.

News of the pick up comes exactly a week after ABC unveiled a fall schedule packed with unscripted content. The network, like all its rivals, is having to hold the majority of its scripted regulars for midseason due to Covid-19 production difficulties. “Emergency Call” joins “Dancing With the Stars,” which just announced an eventful lineup for the new season, on Monday nights.

It follows the dramatic moments leading up to the arrival of help, rather than the events after the firefighters, police or emergency medical services teams arrive, focusing on the extreme, suspenseful and sometimes humorous stories that flood 911 call centers.

“Since I was a kid, I have...

Luke Wilson is set to host and executive produce a new unscripted series about 9-1-1 operators at ABC, the network announced Thursday.

Titled “Emergency Call,” the hour-long documentary series will follow “the extreme, suspenseful and sometimes humorous stories that flood 911 call centers,” focusing on the moments before first responders arrive on the scene, according to ABC.

The series is set to premiere on Monday, Sept. 28.

“Since I was a kid, I have always been interested in people who help. People who save people,” Wilson said in a statement. “When you’re younger, you might be drawn toward superheroes or fictional characters, but as you get older you come to realize that people who help, real-life heroes, are just regular people who do extraordinary things. 911 call takers don’t just save people; they calm and console people until they are safe. They are the first link in the chain of first responders.

Fox has a date for the next helping of its summer reality staple. The net said today that Season 7 of MasterChef will get cookin’ on June 1 with host Gordon Ramsay and pastry chef Christina Tosi. Wolfgang Puck is among the guest judges along with fellow celebrity chefs Aaron Sanchez, Edward Lee, Kevin Sbraga and Richard Blais.

In the season premiere episode, 40 home cooks will travel to Los Angeles, where they will attempt to earn a coveted white apron and move forward to compete for the MasterChef title, a cookbook deal and the $250,000 grand prize. Judging the battle rounds, Ramsay and Tosi will taste for flavor, creativity and presentation. “Each of the guest judges brings a unique perspective and skill to the kitchen that we believe will propel America’s best home cooks to the next level,” said Ramsay, who inked a new two-year deal with Fox last summer.

Fox last...

Fox renewed cooking show “MasterChef Junior” for Season 4 on Tuesday, with the new series to begin production this Spring.

The network also announced that pastry chef Christina Tosi will join the judging panel for both shows in the competitive cooking franchise, including the original, “MasterChef.” The renowned cook and restaurateur replaces departing judge Joe Bastianich and will be flanked by returning chefs Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot on the panel.

See Photos: Neil Patrick Harris Tests Top Chefs, Emmy Acting Nominees Toast Each Other

As TheWrap previously reported, the show’s producers announced Bastianich would not be returning to “MasterChef” or “MasterChef Junior” in November.

Fox ordered a second season of Gordon Ramsay‘s cooking competition series MasterChef Junior only in December, but today said that it has added a third installment of eight episodes. Production on both Season 2 and Season 3 will start in the spring. Host/executive Ramsay will again be joined by restaurateur and winemaker Joe Bastianich and chef Graham Elliot on the judging panel. MasterChef Junior, which features aspiring chefs between ages 8-13 competing in food challenges, had a solid first season this fall, averaging 5.1 million total viewers and ranking No. 1 in its Friday 8 Pm time period among adults 18-49, adults 18-34 and teens. It improved Fox’s performance in the hour versus last year by +58% in adults 18-49. Shine America and Ramsay’s One Potato Two Potato are producers of the series, based on a format created by Franc Roddam and Shine. Elisabeth Murdoch, Eden Gaha, Paul Franklin, Robin Ashbrook, Ramsay,...

Fox has one of its better slates coming your way with the new season, especially if you take the midseason shows into account. Some of these shows may not jump out at you now as must-see, but some of them are going to take over, if I’m any judge anyway.

Clear showcase offerings Dads, Almost Human, and Us & Them are guaranteed to take off early. Almost Human has J.J. Abrams recognition to pull people in, though it looks to be a show that could flounder after a few episodes, even if I hope it doesn’t. The other two are going to become hits. Unfortunately, we have to wait until mid-season for the Gavin & Stacey remake.

Rake also looks like a winner, as long as the translation can be made to work as an Americanized product, and the show actually delivers what made the Australian original so brilliant.

Take...

Fox has given Gordon Ramsay’s newest reality series Hotel Hell a second-season order. After having its premiere date pushed a couple of times, Hotel Hell posted the highest-rated series debut of the summer and ranks as this summer’s No. 1 new series among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34 as well as other demos. “With Hotel Hell, Gordon has proved once again that he’s one of the most successful and appealing personalities on television,” said Fox’s president of alternative entertainment Mike Darnell. “He delivered an amazing new show for us this summer that fans immediately embraced.” Hotel Hell, in which Ramsay whips failing hotels into shape, joins Ramsay’s MasterChef, which was renewed for a fourth season last month, and his flagship Hell’s Kitchen, which received a two-season pickup in April. Hotel Hell, whose freshman season finale airs Monday, is produced by Ramsay’s One Potato Two Potato Inc.

Gordon Ramsay is expanding beyond cooking and setting his sights on a new makeover target: Hotels.

Fox has ordered a new Ramsay series where the reality kingpin will partner with a team of hospitality experts, traveling across the country to try and fix every aspect of struggling hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts. The working title: Hotel Hell.

The series is both familiar territory for Ramsay and a real departure, combining the business makeover format of Kitchen Nightmares with the internationally known chef moving beyond a cooking-centric show on Fox for the first time. Ramsay has hotel experience, having studied hotel management as a young man,...