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Laura Fernández Espeso, who took over as CEO of The Mediapro Studio (Tms), in 2020, has taken the Iberian powerhouse global. The group now has 52 offices across 31 countries, and this summer launched operations across the U.S. and Canada. “We’ve opened offices in Los Angeles after operating in Miami and New York over the last few years,” she says, Tms US & Canada fulfills our goal to create, produce, and distribute content in English, intended for audiences all over the world.”

Tms’ English-language credits to date include the Paolo Sorrentino-directed limited series The Young Pope and The New Pope, for HBO/Max, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s family adventure series The Famous Five for the BBC, as well as such features as A Perfect Day, Hunting Ava Bravo, and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.

Indie film is where Fernández Espeso got her start in the industry, more than 20 years ago.

BBC, Moonage Pictures (The Gentlemen), and Nicolas Winding Refn have started filming a new series of The Famous Five for the BBC in the UK, co-produced with The Mediapro Studio. The 2 x 90-minute series follows the successful first series, with The Curse of Kirrin Island being Cbbc’s top-rated episode in 2023. Diaana Babnicova returns […]

BBC Begin Filming New Series of The Famous Five...

Five Find Fresh Footing

The BBC, Moonage Pictures and Nicolas Winding Refn have begun production on a second season of “The Famous Five.” The 2 x 90′ instalment, created for television and executive produced by Refn and Matthew Read of Moonage, follows the success of the first series, which saw its premiere become Cbbc’s top-rated episode in 2023. The series, based on Enid Blyton‘s books, continues to follow the young protagonists’ adventures, now set against the backdrop of wartime.

The new season comprises two episodes: “Mystery at the Prospect Hotel,” directed by Asim Abbasi, and “Big Trouble on Billycock Hill,” helmed by Tom Vaughn. Both directors also serve as executive producers alongside Refn and Read.

Core cast members Diaana Babnicova, Elliott Rose, Kit Rakusen and Flora Jacoby Richardson reprise their roles, joined by Maria Pedraza, Amir Wilson and Jemima Rooper, who played George in the 1990s adaptation.

BBC Studios will handle international distribution,...

BBC Heading On More ‘Famous Five’ Adventures

The BBC is heading on a second set of The Famous Five adventures. Nicolas Winding Refn’s version, which is made by The Gentleman co-producer Moonage and byNWR with Mediapro Studio, will roll cameras on two more 90-minute eps, which follows the three that launched earlier this year. The show is a modern adaptation of the Enid Blyton classics. Series two takes the heroes into strange and challenging waters as they face life during wartime – and the hazards of growing up. The new series includes a guest role for Jemima Rooper, who starred as George in the 1990s Famous Five TV series and now takes on the role of Angela Clutterbuck, a guest staying at a mysterious hotel. Winding Refn said: “The excitement I feel for the return of The Famous Five fills my inner child with pure content. It is an adventure...

Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn is hoping to shoot a new film in Tokyo next year – and it seems it won’t be quite as family-friendly as his Famous Five adaptation.

Venice Film Festival is in full swing, and it seems that the entirety of Hollywood has landed in Italy.

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is at the Lido too with his short film Beauty Is Not A Sin, but the filmmaker also told Variety that he’s planning his return to feature filmmaking, something we reported on back in February. Winding Refn swore off Hollywood years ago and hasn’t made a feature since 2016’s The Neon Demon.

Variety details that Winding Refn is planning to shoot his new, still-untitled film in Tokyo, which will be in both English and Japanese. Winding Refn also described his return to feature filmmaking as an act of “defiance”.

“It’s a really...

BBC Commercial, the revenue-generating arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation, has revealed a dip in sales and earnings for the 2023/24 fiscal year.

The sales of £1.9 billion ($2.4 billion) and Ebitda of £199 million ($256.5 million) represent a decrease from the previous year’s £2.1 billion in sales ($2.7 billion) and £252 million ($324.8 million) Ebitda, reflecting what the company describes as “challenging market conditions.”

BBC Studios, the main commercial subsidiary, made strategic investments during the year, including the full acquisition of BritBox International. Now part of BBC Studios’ global media and streaming operation, the streamer reported 3.8 million subscribers with a 25% annual growth rate. The company also expanded its international production footprint with acquisitions in Scandinavia, Spain and Australia.

The company reported record levels of investment in content, producing notable programs such as “Planet Earth III,” “The Famous Five” and “Einstein and the Bomb.” BBC Studios’ content received industry recognition with 123 award wins from 401 nominations. The company produced...

Exclusive: Grey’s Anatomy star Kevin McKidd has been cast in Cbbc’s adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s The Primrose Railway Children.

The Scottish actor-director, who has played Dr. Owen Hunt in 16 seasons of Shonda Rhimes’ hit drama, will portray Rob Robinson opposite Nina Toussaint-White (Bodyguard), who is his wife Sarah. Their three children will be played by a trio of emerging young talent in Ava McCarthy, Ida Brooke and Tylan Bailey.

Based on E Nesbit’s classic and penned by Tom Bidwell, The Primrose Railway Children follows Phoebe, her older sister Becks, older brother Perry and their mum who are living a comfortable life in Glasgow when suddenly they are uprooted from their lives and moved to the remote highlands of Scotland. Filming will commence this month in and around Glasgow and the Scottish Highlands. Tracey Beaker author Wilson’s book is based on The Railway Children, which was also...

Even though it felt like everyone and their mother hated King Joffrey while Game of Thrones was on the air, the way Jack Gleeson portrayed the character deserves nothing but praise.

The actor took the script and made the role his own, so Joffrey is well remembered years after his murder, even though the show has featured much worse villains than him in the years since.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with controversial characters, the passionate audience was unable to draw the line between the actor and his character. The bullying and harassment was so severe that Gleeson had to take several years off the screen to get back into acting. Now, however, he's ready to strike viewers as part of another fantasy world.

Who Is Jack Gleeson Going to Play in Sandman?

Already starring Gleeson’s Game of Thrones co-star, Gwendoline Christie, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman tells the story of Morpheus,...

Good thing The Dreaming is an endless expanse, because The Sandman Season 2 is starting to get a lot more crowded.

Game of Thrones‘ Jack Gleeson will join Netflix’s fantasy series for its sophomore run, TVLine has learned. He’ll play Puck, who is described as “a malevolent hobgoblin who serves as the royal jester to King Auberon of Faerie. Puck is fascinated by mortals and enjoys nothing more than making sport of them for his own amusement. He’s also the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

More from TVLineThe Morning Show Casts Jeremy Irons...

Exclusive: Mad Dog 2020 Casting, a 25-year-old British agency that has supplied background actors to productions including Call the Midwife and Doctor Who, is ignoring court orders to pay clients for work completed last year.

Mad Dog 2020 continues to trade despite failing to observe multiple county court judgments in favor of supporting artists owed hundreds of pounds from 2023. The company has also been accused of ghosting clients chasing money.

The payment issues have been rumbling on for many months, despite Mad Dog pledging to process all outstanding payments by the end of January 2024. Some clients have received the money they were owed, but others continue to chase. Equity and Bectu, two of the most prominent UK creative industry unions, are supporting affected members.

Mad Dog has not responded to Deadline’s repeated requests for comment. In a statement sent to some clients in March, Mad Dog apologized and said it...

“The Famous Five” is a new Brit-produced BBC TV series, based on author Enid Blyton’s adventure novels, directed by Nicolas Wind Refn, starring Diaana Babnicova, Elliott Rose, Kit Rakusen, Flora Jacoby Richardson, Jack Gleeson, Ann Akinjirin, James Lance and Diana Quick, streaming May 31, 2024 on Hulu :

“…five daring young explorers encounter treacherous, action-packed adventures, remarkable mysteries, unparalleled danger and astounding secrets. Each has their own unique personality. But when thrown together, they become unstoppable…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

The Mediapro Studio US/Canada, the offshoot of the Spanish media giant, has unveiled its North American leadership team as it prepares its autumn slate.

Erika Kennair is named head of scripted content and Pam Healey head of unscripted content reporting to The Mediapro Studio US/Canada head Juan Acosta.

The North American leadership team comprises Ari Tan as head of strategy and operations and Robert Haiat as head of commercial in Los Angeles, with Leslie Cohen as head of global acquisitions and Juan Pablo Santos as SVP content and business development, both based in New York.

The Mediapro Studio...

Hulu will launch all six episodes of the BBC Studios series The Famous Five on Friday, May 31. The show is based on Enid Blyton’s bestselling novels.

The Famous Five follows five daring young explorers as they encounter treacherous, action-packed adventures, remarkable mysteries, unparalleled danger, and astounding secrets.

George, Julian, Dick, Anne, and their dog Timmy are young and fearless. Each has their own unique personality. But when thrown together, they become unstoppable.

The charming series is built as a summertime adventure, with kids in charge of their own treasure hunt. The children’s novels have sold 600 million copies around the world.

The Famous Five stars Diaana Babnicova, Elliott Rose, Kit Rakusen (Foundation), Flora Jacoby Richardson, James Lance (Ted Lasso), and Ann Aknjirin.

The guest stars include Jack Gleeson (Game of Thrones), Diana Quick, William Abadie, Ed Speleers, Nora Arnezeder, Jason Flemyng (Pennyworth), and Art Malik (Homeland).

The series was...

“The Famous Five” is a new Brit-produced BBC TV series, based on author Enid Blyton’s adventure novels, directed by Nicolas Wind Refn, starring Diaana Babnicova, Elliott Rose, Kit Rakusen, Flora Jacoby Richardson, Jack Gleeson, Ann Akinjirin, James Lance and Diana Quick, streaming May 31, 2024 on Hulu :

“…five daring young explorers encounter treacherous, action-packed adventures, remarkable mysteries, unparalleled danger and astounding secrets. Each has their own unique personality. But when thrown together, they become unstoppable…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

The Mediapro Studio is opening a new US/Canada headquarters office in Los Angeles and has appointed Juan ‘Jc’ Acosta as its head of operations for the market.

The new office is part of a push to increase the production and distribution of English-language content – including scripted series, reality and entertainment programming, documentaries and features – by the company, the production division of Spain’s Mediapro communications group.

The Los Angeles office will act as the centre of US operations for The Mediapro Studio, which already has staff working at the Miami and New York offices of Grup Mediapro (which also...

Nora Arnezeder (“The Famous Five”) and Maria Bello (“A History of Violence”) are set to co-star in “Hell in Paradise,” a female-powered thriller inspired by a true story and produced by EuropaCorp’s Virginie Besson-Silla (“Dogman”).

Penned by Karine Silla (“A Butterfly Kiss”), “Hell in Paradise” revolves around Nina, a young French girl who leaves her native Marseille and accepts her first job as a receptionist at a luxurious hotel resort on a magnificent island of the Maldives, hoping for a better life. But when a tragedy befalls the hotel, Nina is propelled in a relentless spiral of lies and manipulations. Wrongly accused and sentenced to life in prison, she will have no other choice but to run between traps and escape this paradise turned into hell.

Arnezeder and Maria Bello star opposite Josephine de la Baume, Alyy Khan, Shubahm Saraf and Ranjit Krishnama. Gregoire Melin’s Kinology handles international...

Jhon Lumsden, Sara Vickers, Peter Mullan, and Brian McCardie join ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’

Peter Mullan (Ozark) has joined the cast of Starz’s Outlander prequel, Outlander: Blood of My Blood. New additions to the series also include Brian McCardie (Rob Roy), Jhon Lumsden (The Famous Five), and Sara Vickers (Watchmen).

Starz announced Mullan will be playing Red Jacob MacKenzie, Laird of Clan MacKenzie and father to Ellen, Dougal, Colum, Janet and Jocasta. McCardie will take on the role of Isaac Grant, leader of Clan Grant, and Jhon Lumsden has signed on to play Isaac’s son, Malcolm, a potential suitor for Ellen MacKenzie. Sara Vickers joins as Davina Porter, a housekeeper in the Lovat household and mother to Brian Fraser.

The prequel stars Jeremy Irvine as Henry Beauchamp, Hermione Corfield as Julia Moriston, Jamie Roy as Brian Fraser, Harriet Slater as Ellen MacKenzie, and Tony Curran as Lord Lovat.

Aimee Lou Wood Comedy ‘Daddy Issues’ Rounds Out Cast

Aimee Lou Wood BBC comedy Daddy Issues has rounded out cast and unveiled first-look image. Joining the Sex Education star and David Morrissey are David Fynn (Am I Being Unreasonable?), Sharon Rooney (Barbie), Sarah Hadland (Miranda), Taj Atwal (Hullraisers), Arian Nik (Count Abdulla), Tom Stourton (Stath Lets Flats), Susan Lynch (Sex Education), Susannah Fielding (This Time with Alan Partridge), Lauren O’Rourke (Henpocalypse), Cyril Nri (Death in Paradise), Cora Kirk (Grantchester), Perry Fitzgerald (Line of Duty), Claire Keelan (The Trip), Damien Molony (Brassic), Sherrie Hewson (Benidorm), Humphrey Ker (Welcome to Wrexham) and David Reed (Ghosts). Daddy Issues follows a hedonistic woman in her mid-20s, played by Wood, who discovers she’s pregnant after a random hook-up and has no choice but to turn to her hapless father Malcolm for support. The show will air on BBC Three, producer is Fudge Park and distributor is Fremantle.

Exclusive: An eclectic collection of upcoming projects ranging from Guy Ritchie’s debut TV series to Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Famous Five to an Italian-language series for Netflix are tied together by one constant: Moonage Pictures.

Frith Tiplady, Matthew Read and Will Gould’s London outfit has been one of the quieter British drama production houses of the past few years but is signaling itself this year with a wealth of long-gestating projects making their way to the screen, and they are buoyant in the face of a tricky market.

Shows incoming include the Miramax and STX Television co-produced Gentlemen TV series spin-off that has seen Moonage work with Snatch auteur Ritchie for the first time, a big-budget BBC adaptation of Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, The Famous Five for the BBC and Zdf, and Netflix Italy’s The Leopard – one of the streamer’s...

Nicolas Winding Refn’s next project will mark his first feature film since 2016’s The Neon Demon. More here.

Nicolas Winding Refn is one of those provocative directors who seems to revel in controversy. After wowing the world with the incredibly stylish Drive in 2011, the director follow it with two projects that foregrounded violence and other shocking elements such as necrophilia and cannibalism in his next two films: Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon.

Then Refn all but disappeared from feature filmmaking, choosing instead to dabble in a seres of left-field short films and focus on TV work, including the slow-moving crime drama series Too Old To Die Young for Amazon Prime Video in 2019. He also recently produced an adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five for the BBC.

Whatever he’s dabbled in, Refn has seemed keen to avoid Hollywood, claiming back in 2022 on a Deadline podcast...

Laura Fernández Espeso will be the next General Manager of Spain’s Mediapro.

On January 1, 2025, the current CEO of production and sales subsidiary The Mediapro Studios will succeed Juan Ruiz de Gauna as General Manager of the overall business, as part of a major restructure of the Spanish media and broadcasting giant.

Alberto Vía will replace José Luis Rubio as Head of Mediapro Broadcast and Media Services on the same day next year.

Espeso began her career in indie film, working with directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Danis Tanovic, Ken Loach and Juan José Campanella. She then joined Spanish production giant Globomedia as Director of Film and later added leadership of International TV Development.

In 2015, she joined Mediapro as Head of International Content. Four years later, she took on management of TV and Corporate management of The Mediapro Studio and has been overall CEO since 2020, leading the creation, production...

The Mediapro Studios has boarded Nicolas Winding Refn’s reimaginging of The Famous Five.

The Madrid-based content house has struck a production deal with BBC Studios includes distribution rights to the upcoming kids series in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

The series is a retelling of the bestselling Enid Blyton novels published between 1942 ands 1963, and comes from Winding Refn’s byNWR and BBC Studios-backed indie Moonage Pictures, which is behind The Pursuit of Love and Bodies, with The Mediapro Studio now an associate producer.

Danish auteur Winding Refn co-created the series with Moonage’s Matthew Read, and both are exec producers. It is being made for the BBC in the UK and Zdf in Germany, with BBC Studios already pre-selling it to France’s TF1.

In an exclusive interview with Deadline ahead of Mipcom Cannes in October, where The Famous Five launched, Winding Refn said he...

Enid Blyton’s iconic series of adventure novels, “The Famous Five,” is being made into a TV series, thanks to a pact forged by the BBC Studios, Germany’s Zdf and Spain’s The Mediapro Studio, in the latter’s continued bid to partner in more English-language productions.

Produced by Moonage Pictures and Nicolas Winding Refn’s byNWR, the series is an ambitious adaptation of the iconic children’s adventure novels by the English author.

Said The Mediapro Studio CEO Laura Fernández Espeso: “This significant agreement with BBC Studios to co-produce forward ‘The Famous Five’ aligns seamlessly with our objective of augmenting English-language content production at the company.”

“It not only contributes to our international expansion but also solidifies a partnership with an exceptionally prestigious collaborator, engaging in a major production inspired by a literary saga of immense global acclaim,” she added. The Mediapro Studio will hold distribution rights to Spain,...

Nicolas Winding Refn has swapped ultraviolence for Enid Blyton. His The Famous Five adaptation is coming to Cbbc on 9 December.

The Famous Five, Nicolas Winding Refn’s adaptation of Enid Blyton’s classic series of children’s adventure books, is set to air its first feature-length programme on BBC on 9 December, at 5.25pm.

The series will consist of three episodes, all of them lasting 90 minutes. While the first episode is set to air on Cbbc and BBC iPlayer next week, the two remaining episodes won’t be available until sometime in 2024. The first episode of The Famous Five will also be broadcast on BBC One between Christmas and New Year.

The series, as well as the books, follows four young adventurers and their dog as they “encounter treacherous, action-packed adventures, remarkable mysteries, unparalleled danger and astounding secrets” as described by the BBC.

Elliott Rose, Kit Rakusen, Flora Jacoby Richardson and...

BBC Unveils Xmas Slate Including ‘Peaky Blinders’ Dance Performance & Rebecca Ferguson Doc

The BBC has unveiled its Christmas schedule featuring a wealth of pre-announced scripted content, a recording of the Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby live performance and a Rebecca Ferguson-narrated natural history doc about Scandinavia. The Peaky Blinders performance will be specially filmed at the Birmingham Hippodrome and air on BBC Four over Christmas. Adapted for the stage by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and choreographed and directed by Rambert’s Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer, the performance includes the full company of Rambert dancers and marks 10 years since the first episode aired. Meanwhile, Dune star Ferguson is narrating Wild Scandinavia, which celebrates the stunning wildlife, dramatic landscapes and unique culture of the furthest northern reaches of Europe and is co-produced for PBS and Svt. There are also fresh docs on the slate about the Kanneh-Mason performers,...

Exclusive: There is a little-discussed Hollywood rumor, explains Nicolas Winding Refn and his long-time collaborator Matthew Read, that Scooby Doo only came to be because Warners failed to land the rights to adapt The Famous Five.

And when you look at the two properties and their uncanny similarities, this argument does begin to hold some weight. Both have daring female characters from a bygone era, ridiculous story-of-the-week capers that always end neatly, and, of course, those lovable pooches — in the former case Scooby and in the latter, Timmy.

If the rumor is true, Winding Refn is thankful for how things played out, as he credits both generation-traversing works with influencing his career and driving his love for the screen. Now, more than 50 years on from when Warner Bros. allegedly failed to land the rights, the Denmark-born director has become the latest to take on best-selling English children’s writer Enid Blyton’s iconic novel series,...

The 2023 MIPCOM Cannes international television market kicks off Monday against the backdrop of the violence in the Middle East with the Israel-Hamas War, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and a worldwide TV industry that has seen its business models, built on the promise of global streaming revenues, collapse with little to replace them.

The importance of the latter issue pales against the gravity of the two wars on the edge of Europe, but it will likely be the one most on the minds of industry execs on the Croisette, who have come to Cannes to try and figure out how to weather the downturn everyone knows is coming (or is already here).

“It’s been bad, and everyone I speak to expects it to get a lot worse,” says Ida Martins, CEO of European indie sales group Media Luna. “Coming out of Covid at [MIPCOM] last year there was hope, but...

The new Mexican Netflix Original, The Chosen One, is out, and so far, it has been one of the most interesting pieces of fantasy fiction to have come out on the platform this year. This coming-of-age drama is about a bunch of kids who are trying to understand the significance of the divine power that has been bestowed upon one of their closest friends. There are many characters in The Chosen One, and by the looks of it, this engaging drama involving kids might get a second season.

Jodie, Tuka, Magda, Hipotila, and Wagner have been friends for a while. The kids are an integral part of each other. They seem too inseparable, and it showcases the bond they share. Jodie looks American but has lived most of his life in Mexico. Just like any other children their age, they prefer to have a sense of adventure and want to discover many new things.

Nicolas Winding Refn is expanding into the animated world.

While Charlie Kaufman and Guillermo Del Toro have announced new emphases on animation, Refn exclusively told IndieWire that he is current working on an animated TV series.

“I’m doing an animation show which I’m very, very, actually really excited about,” the “Only God Forgives” auteur said. “I’ve been concentrating on for a year. I was so tired, I forgot about that. That is my new project.”

Refn is also creating an adaptation of famed British sleuth series “The Famous Five.”

“In Europe, it’s like institution. It’s like British royalty when it comes to pop culture of literature,” Refn said. “They are these old children’s books from the ’30s from England and everyone read them who as growing up all over Europe. Everyone has had their parents read them ‘The Famous Five.’ My kids know them backwards and forwards.