Arte adds Brit dramas

Public broadcaster Arte France has acquired British series Indian Summers and Wolf Hall as it continues to boost its drama output.

They add to recent acquisitions Peaky Blinders and Australian series The Code, while during Fipa Festival last week Arte France’s editorial director Vincent Meslet revealed the channel is in negotiations with Borgen writer Adam Price to coproduce his new series.

Arte has seen success with its Thursday drama strand, running a mix of acquisitions – including Real Humans, Borgen and the Killing – plus coproductions and commissions.

The network is keen to develop more European drama coproductions, said Meslet, citing the example of Jo Nesbo’s Occupied, the Zodiak Media drama coproduced by Yellow Bird in Norway and GTV in France. Arte is also going to renew its operation Tandem, aimed at initiating coproductions between France and Germany.

In French drama, the channel has commissioned its first sci-fi series, Trepalium, which takes place in a future where unemployment is so high that the jobless are parked in a zone. Its new director of drama, Olivier Wotling, is to join the channel on February 1.

“Regarding drama acquisitions, we are trying to diversify countries,” Alexandre Piel, deputy head of drama, in charge of international, told C21. “We have also recently picked up BBC’s The Politician’s Husband; along with Norskov, a new Danish 10-hour drama from TV2; Thicker Than Water, a Swedish one from SVT; and our first Finnish series, The Limit.”

Both Wolf Hall and The Code were part of Fipa Festival selection last week, the latter having won the Fipa d’Or award for best screenplay on Saturday.