MIPCOM Hot Pick: Switch

Dubbed ‘Hex in the City’ by the production team, Switch is the everyday story of four young witches living together in Camden, North London. The show comes from the producers that made Being Human, the drama about a ghost, werewolf and vampire living together.

The show: Switch
The producers: Touchpaper Television
The distributor: Zodiak Rights
Airing: ITV2 (UK)
Concept: Comedy drama about four young witches living together in London

“It’s about four witches who are best friends trying to live out their own lives and not those set out by tradition or their mothers,” says Jane Millichip, managing director, Zodiak Rights.

She adds: “Like Being Human it brings key elements of good drama to the sci-fi and supernatural genre: love, loss and tragedy. It’s also very funny, it’s a comedy drama. It’s not full of pointy hats and cauldrons, these characters just happen to be witches and the things that drive them are the same as for any of us.”

Lacey Turner (Eastenders), Nina Toussaint-White (Doctor Who), Phoebe Fox (Black Mirror) and Hannah Tointon (The Inbetweeners) play the witches.

The four girls are different character types, with one very career-focused, another a fashionista, one straighter and more traditional and one a free-spirited traveller, who has just returned from India.

The witches’ mothers also feature and provide a comedic outlet as the more traditional face of witchcraft.

“I’m convinced it will work in international markets,” Millichip says. “It is far more international than a lot of British drama in tone and its attitude. It has a commercial feel and a fast-paced script that will appeal to international buyers. It has real format potential too.”

Zodiak Rights is launching the show at MIPCOM.