Drama round-up: ITV makes ‘Long Call’ with Silverprint; STV & BBMM partner for ‘Frankenstein’; Platform Europa+ buys from Mediaset

Polly Hill

ITV makes ‘Long Call’ with Silverprint

ITV in the UK has ordered four-part crime drama The Long Call, based on the novel of the same name by Vera and Shetland creator Ann Cleeves.

The show is being adapted by Kelly Jones and will be produced by Silverprint Pictures, part of ITV Studios, which will handle international distribution. Des and Baptiste screenwriter Kelly Jones, will write all four episodes in her first solo series.

The drama tracks an intriguing and flawed detective inspector, who has returned to live in a small community in North Devon with his husband.

The show was commissioned by ITV’s head of drama, Polly Hill, who said: “I’m delighted that ITV is working with Silverprint Pictures to bring another of Ann’s brilliant novels to screen. It’s very different to Vera, but I think audiences will take to DI Matthew Venn and this compelling story in the same way. Kelly has written a wonderful adaptation and this promises to be a really distinctive and original new crime series.”

Stone Village & Black Box team for ‘Frankenstein’

US-based indie Stone Village has teamed up with international prodco BlackBox Multimedia for a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s seminal horror novel Frankenstein as a premium TV series.

Scottish screenwriter Bradley McManus will pen this new take on the book, which is set to add “experiential elements” to update the story for modern international viewers.

This version of the classic novel, about a scientist who brings to life a monstrous creation, will seek to “capture the nuanced behaviours and obsessions of a scientist exploring the fine thread between life and death in the context of the contemporary scientific discoveries of the last decade – and more significantly, following a year of global dependence on scientific invention and breakthrough.”

Stone Village and BlackBox will produce the limited series set in Europe, with characters and story lines that could continue in successive seasons.

Scott Steindorff, managing partner of Stone Village, said that the 200-year-old story “remains as relevant as ever.”

Rosy Abate

Europa+ buys from Mediaset

Newly launched LatAm OTT platform Europa+ has acquired 11 Italian series from Mediaset Distribution, via its partnership with MGE Entertainment.

The deal will make available the Italian language series’ available with Spanish subtitles for the platform and include the drama shows The Silence Of Water, Doctor Giò, Love And Sacrifice, Solo, Kidnapped By Justice, The Queen Of Palermo, The Final Act, Winds Of Passion, Rosy Abate, Ultimo Chasing Narcos and the entertainment unscripted series A Mastercake.

Europa+ services Latin America and the Caribbean with more than 1,500 hours of the most recent and popular series on European television, as well as other special programming. It has been available since last September on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices.