Britain’s Sky Atlantic HD is making sure Game Of Thrones fans don’t have to wait to see the first episode of the upcoming fourth season. The pay channel will premiere the season debut simultaneously with HBO’s U.S. East Coast transmission. Catering to the faithful, it will air on Monday April 7 at 2 AM and then be repeated in primetime at 9 PM UK time. Following the first 2 AM transmission, the premiere episode will also be available on demand. After that, Game Of Thrones will settle into its regular time slot. The move is not unprecedented for Sky which has done similar simulcasts with the series finales of Lost and Fringe.
Two new 120-minute episodes of The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher have been ordered by the UK’s ITV. Paddy Considine stars in the psychological drama from Hat Trick Productions. Shooting will take place in April and May in central London and other English locations. The period films are set in mid-Victorian England and inspired by the real life career of celebrated 19th century detective Jonathan ‘Jack’ Whicher. The two new stories, Beyond The Pale and ‘Til Death Do Us Part, see Whicher pursuing his new found role as a private inquiry agent. David Blair (Accused) and Geoff Sax (Endeavour) are directing. Helen Edmundson is writer and David Boulter (Poirot) is producer. Hat Trick’s Head of Drama Mark Redhead will exec produce. The first Whicher film, The Murder At Road Hill House, aired in 2011 and was followed by The Murder In Angel Lane in 2013. Thus far, they have not aired Stateside.
The UK’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards are set to honor Andrew Davies in London on March 28. Davies is best known for his TV adaptations which include Pride And Prejudice, Bleak House and the original House Of Cards. He will receive the Harvey Lee award for outstanding achievement, which is named in honor of the former Daily Telegraph media correspondent and Broadcasting Press Guild chairman who died in 1991. Davies’ other successes include Little Dorrit, Middlemarch and Jeremy Piven series Mr Selfridge. He is currently adapting Tolstoy’s War And Peace, a collaboration of the BBC, The Weinstein Co and Lookout Point.
LA-based Mance Media has acquired all available domestic and international rights to Trophy Kids, the sports docu-film directed by Chris Bell (Bigger Stronger Faster) and executive produced by Peter Berg. A shortened version of the documentary first aired in the premiere episode of HBO’s State Of Play. It asks the question: Are we pushing our kids too far? and delves into the phenomenon of parents who live vicariously through their children’s sports activities. Mance Media will release it on DVD, Blu Ray and VOD on June 4 and is presenting it to international buyers at Mip-TV next month. It has already been licensed to TV2 in Norway.
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