\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\u2018My Brother\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tEqually, on \u201c\u2018Wallander,\u2019 one question was: Where was \u2018Wallander\u2019 now? \u2018Wallander\u2019 was done the first time around in the first flush of Nordic Noir and done very, very well. Should it be more modern? But we haven\u2019t over pushed the modernity. We haven\u2019t got a lot of him not being able to use iPhones or any of that stuff. It\u2019s got a clarity. It\u2019s strong, very muscular, and a good example of trust the material, trust the book, trust the writer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBanijay companies \u201cknow their markets, cultures, stories, commissioners and their talent. It\u2019s really important that they do what they do,\u201d said Matthews.<\/p>\n \n\tSo what does Banijay bring to the table? \u201cWe\u2019re scaling innovation, backing talent, investing in development, and pushing into new ways to tell ambitious stories,\u201d Matthews and Jensen said.<\/p>\n \n\tThat may mean investing in development to help and support a title to have the power and leverage and power of something that\u2019s big while maintaining the sense of coming from an individual producer, said Matthews.<\/p>\n \n\tBut passion\u2019s back in fashion, he added. \u201cThings are tough. Data is always important. But the whole game is a balance between having a sense of what the market wants, but also a sense of artistic integrity. Commissioners really want to see a spark in the eye,\u201d Matthews observed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNot so long ago 2024, there was a statistic that 44% of all new shows in Europe were crime. I\u2019m hearing from the streaming services that shows should have a genre, but they would encourage producers to be significantly bolder in the subjects that they\u2019re choosing. I think now is not the time to be conservative because I think they\u2019re looking like they need shows to pop through, to shine through, and that doesn\u2019t come from timid thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA closer look at Banijay\u2019s global scripted slate at Series Mania:\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe Big U.K. Trio<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cA Woman of Substance\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA BritBox U.S. streaming rights pickup, this time round, Brenda Blethyn (\u201cVera,\u201d \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d) takes the Deborah Kerr role as the older Emma Harte, once an impoverished Yorkshire maid, played by Jessica Reynolds\u00a0(\u201cKneecap\u201d),who builds from one clothes shop to becoming the richest woman in the world. Produced by The Forge, reuniting \u201cThe Buccaneers\u201d scribes Roanne Bardsley as lead writer and Katherine Jakeways and that series\u2019 helmer John Hardwick as lead director, scoring an upbeat critical reaction for its gloss, sweep, unapologetic melodrama and Reynolds perf. \u201cAnother wonderful (and horny) retelling\u201d of the novel,\u201d said The Guardian.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cFalling,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tStarring Keeley Hawes (\u201cScoop,\u201d \u201cMiss Austen\u201d) and Paapa Essiedu (\u201cBlack Mirror,\u201d \u201cThe Lazarus Project,\u201d seen at Series Mania in \u201cBabies\u201d) in what Barnijay calls a \u201cmodern love story\u201d where a nun falls for a Catholic priest. Both wrestle with what it means for them, their vows, and their relationship with God. \u201c\u2018Falling\u2019 is a story that has Jack Thorne\u2019s singular talent of mining the sublime out of the ordinary running all the way through,\u201d Essiedu has said. Joe Donaldson (\u201cPeaky Blinders\u201d) produces; Peter Hoar (\u201cIt\u2019s a Sin\u201d) lead directs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHalf Man,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tMaking a big splash at October\u2019s Mipcom and set for an HBO U.S. release,the latest from \u201cBaby Reindeer\u201d creator-star Richard Gadd who stars with Jamie Bell (\u201cRocket Man\u201d) in the tale of two men, close as brothers as teens, now embittered enemies. Described as capturing the wild energy of a changing city \u2013 a changing world, even \u2013 while asking: What does it mean to be a man? Banijay\u2019s Mam Tor Productions produces with Thistledown Pictures for the BBC and BBC Scotland and HBO.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tStreamer Titles<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMotorvalley,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA Netflix Italian original and underdog high-speed racing drama with engineer Elena bringing in hot head Blu and ex champ Arturo to compete at Italy\u2019s GT Championship and win back her family\u2019s business. A blend of family melodrama and high-octane action in line with \u201cFast & Furious,\u201d says Micropsia\u2019s Diego Lerer. Produced by Groenlandia (\u201cThe Law According to Lidia Po\u00ebt\u201d) and creator-writers Matteo Rovere, writer-direcor of \u201cItalian Race,\u201d and Gianluca Bernardina, a writer on well-received \u201cShake.\u201d \u201c\u2018Motorvalley\u2019 is \u2018Lidia Po\u00ebt\u2019 100 M.P.H: State of the art, great fun genre,\u201d said Matthews.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Motorvalley\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201cBoho,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tFrom top Banijay-owned Flemish label jonnydepony (\u201cThe Big Fuck-Up\u201d), a millennial female-led drama comedy, created by Abbie Boutkabout and directed by Olympia Allaert and set in the vibrant neighborhood of Borgerhout in Antwerp, boasts intricately choreographed dance and music to tell the intertwined stories of three friends, Variety <\/em>reported from Mipcom. Now streaming on Streamz, and a \u201ctestament to the wealth of female Flemish creativity,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cLa Nena,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tAdapting Carmen Mola\u2019s neo noir crime bestsellers, the stylish and brutal \u201cThe Gypsy Bride,\u201d from \u201cPenny Dreadful\u201d director Paco Cabezas and Diagonal TV, gave Atresmedia SVOD service Atresplayer one of its biggest hits of 2022. If a big marketing push at Spain\u2019s Malaga Festival this month was anything to go by, Atresplayer is hoping for the same with \u201cLa Nena,\u201d a makeover of Mola\u2019s third novel. Nerea Blanco returns as Inspector Elena Blanco, investigating once more the Purple Network. Word is that La Nena,\u201d due to bow on Atresplayer and Disney+ April 12, is the darkest and most shocking installments of the trilogy.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018La Nena\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tFurther International Titles<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMontmartre,\u201d <\/strong>(Authentic Prod)<\/p>\n \n\tBowing Sept. 25 on TF1 to robust 20%+ shares, another big TF1 period piece after \u201cWomen at War\u201d and \u201cThe Bonfire of Destiny,\u201d here set in the legendary Parisian district in 1899 where a cabaret dancer (Alice Dufour, \u201cAlphonse\u201d) hunts for her siblings. Reviews were largely upbeat \u2013 \u201can elegant historic reconstruction, a romantic air and the talent of Alice Dufour,\u201d said T\u00e9l\u00e9 Cable Sat. Also a flurry of sales for Studio TF1 led by MHz Networks for the U.S., Italy\u2019s Mediaset and Spain\u2019s Atresmedia. Directed by Louis Choquette (\u201cVersailles\u201d).<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Montmartre\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201c<\/strong>Marie-Line Incognito\u201d<\/strong> (DMLS Films)<\/p>\n \n\tA former French secret service spy reassigned as a sleeper agent in her quiet Cantal hometown, joins forces with the local police chief, a former colleague, to solve local crimes. Made for TF1 and described by Banijay as a character-driven procedural and DMLS as \u201ca unique blend of investigative intrigue and small-town drama.\u201d The latest from DMLS, behind \u201cPourquoi je vis\u201d (TF1), \u201cMeurtre \u00e0 Figeac\u201d (France 3) and \u201cTous inconnus\u201d (TF1).<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWallander,\u201d<\/strong> (Jarowskij\/YellowBird)<\/p>\n \n\tStarring Gustaf Skarsg\u00e5rd (\u201cOppenheimer,\u201d \u201cVikings\u201d), the anticipated \u2013 and modern \u2013 reboot of \u201cWallander,\u201d set up at Banijay Entertainment<\/a>\u2019s Jarowskij\/Yellow Bird and Swedish broadcast network TV4, and featuring a Wallander who, just divorced and losing his father and daughter, feels his life is falling apart. The latest in one of the most resilient of TV crime franchises, seeing a three-season Swedish series (2005-13) Kenneth Branagh\u2019s British TV version (2008-16) and Netflix two-season series \u201cYoung Wallander\u201d (2020-22).\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFestival Lineup<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMy Brother\u201d<\/strong> (Filmlance)<\/p>\n \n\tThe latest from Karin Karin Arrhenius, fast consolidating as one of Sweden\u2019s major screenwriters (\u201cRebecca Martinsson,\u201d\u201cBlackwater\u201d), adapting the first novel by Karin Smirnoff, a four-part mystery thriller sold by TrustNordisk and from \u201cThe Bridge\u201d and \u201cCaliphate\u201d producer Filmlance International, part of Banijay Entertainment. A big hit on Swedish pubcaster SVT, bowing all four episodes on Dec. 26 on SVT to fairly spectacular results of 1.5 million views (980 000 on free-to-air TV and 309 000 SVT Play), by early January, according to audience measurement company MMS.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnatomy of a Moment,\u201d <\/strong>(DLO Producciones )<\/p>\n \n\tFor many, the best Spanish series of 2025, created by Spain\u2019s Alberto Rodr\u00edguez (\u201cThe Plague\u201d), produced by Spain\u2019s DLO Producciones (\u201cThe Gardener\u201d), a Banijay company, Movistar Plus+ and Arte France, and chronicling how Spanish prime minister Adolfo Su\u00e1rez, a former member of dictator Francisco Franco\u2019s Falange, put through democracy in Spain over 1976-77, abetted by Santiago Carillo, head of Spain\u2019s Communist Party and Manuel Gutierrez Mellado, a reformist Francoist general.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe six-part series is directed with flair, including a trenchant voiceover which clarifies the trio\u2019s characters and actions and their consequences, as the three emerge, as Rodriguez told Variety<\/em>, as \u201cfigures of a Shakespearean stature.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Anatomy of a Moment\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMovistar Plus+<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201cThese Sacred Vows,\u201d <\/strong>(Treasure Entertainment)<\/p>\n \n\tThe morning after an Irish wedding on a Spanish island, a priest is found dead in a swimming pool. \u201cA fractured portrait of middle-class Irish life under pressure, probing generational tensions around faith, status and identity in a society still reckoning with the Catholic Church\u2019s diminished authority.\u201d says Variety. Created by writer-director John Butler (\u201cThe Outlaws\u201d). A third-party pick-up produced by Dublin-based Treasure Entertainment for Irish public broadcaster RT\u00c9 with support from Banijay Rights<\/a> and F\u00eds \u00c9ireann\/Screen Ireland.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEtty,\u201d <\/strong>(Topkapi Films)<\/p>\n \n\tWorld premiering at Venice, but bidding fair to become one of the biggest series at Series Mania where it was screened in its six episode entirety on Saturday. A vision of the extraordinary life of Etty Hillesum,\u00a0 the writer and Jewish activist who died in Auschwitz, set by creator Hagai Levi in a broadly modern-day Amsterdam where she refuses to abandon her principles while living out a rich inner life felt deeply. A series made by Topkapi for Arte France but with a spectacular clutch of other companies which wanted in, led by Arte GEIE, SWR, Les Films du Poisson, Komplizen Serien and Quiddity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Etty\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201cTotally Spies\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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