Tower Productions, the joint venture between BBC Worldwide and All3Media Germany has won two new format commissions with German broadcasters and has just produced a third format.
Click to tweet: Tower Productions announces multiple commissions for German broadcasters http://bbc.in/KI4bbU
ZDFneo has commissioned hit BBC Three format Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands while WDR has commissioned the BBC One format The Food Factory. Tower Productions has also recently finished production on the Love Production format Generation Gap for ARD and SWR.
The Cologne based production company will be making 10 episodes of Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands which will screen under the name Junior Docs. The series is now in production for transmission on ZDFneo in autumn 2012.
The Food Factory or Freitag tischt auf! will get a first series of six episodes. The programme is now in production and will be on air weekly starting mid-October on WDR.
The ARD version of Generation Gap will be called Jung trifft Alt and will see three young people volunteering to work with the elderly in a two-part series. The series premieres late July on ARD and will subsequently TX on regional broadcaster SWR in October in three episodes.
Stefan Oelze, Managing Director of Tower Productions said: “These are three strong formats that speak to, educate and touch people. This is human interest television at its best, dealing with current issues and experiences in our communities. UK viewers really responded to the unique stories being told in these series and I know German audiences will be equally enthralled.”
Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands first broadcast in the UK on BBC One in February 2011 and has since aired a second series to critical and popular acclaim. BBC Worldwide has already licensed the format in Sweden (Kanal 5) and The Netherlands (RTL4) and has optioned the format in the Ukraine and Israel.
The original version of Generation Gap transmitted under the title When Teenage Meets Old Age on BBC Two in February 2011. BBC Worldwide has previously sold the format to Denmark (DR), where it has just received a series two commission. The format is currently optioned in Sweden and Italy.
Tower has already produced 45 episodes of Clever vs Stupid (Wer zeigt’s wem?) for SWR, Filthy Rich and Homeless (Reich und Obdachlos) for ZDF and CHEFS: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is (Kampf der Köche) for kabel eins in the ProSiebenSat.1-Group.
For more information, please contact:
Julia Holmes
Communications Officer, Content & Production and Sales & Distribution, BBC Worldwide
Tel: +44 (0) 208 8433 3419
Email: julia.holmes@bbc.com
Twitter: @julia_hholmes
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands (50’) is a fly-on-the-wall series format that puts the lives of newly qualified doctors under the microscope during their first two years on the wards of a busy city hospital.
- The Food Factory (30’) opens the fridge door to discover what is done to ensure we can enjoy our favourite foods whenever we want and how even nature’s simplest foods are now altered to ensure they are ‘safe’ to eat.
- Generation Gap (60’) is an active, immersive format that sees young people volunteer for work in a care home for the elderly. Heart-warming, funny and insightful the format offers an inspirational, amusing and emotional journey of discovery that hopes to change the way the young and the old think about each other.
About
BBC Worldwide Ltd.
BBC
Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of
the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The company exists to maximise the
value of the BBC’s assets for the benefit of the licence fee payer and invest
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