Beta preps Spanish, German drama

MIPCOM: Spanish network Antena 3 is onboard a new drama from the production team behind the series Grand Hotel, Velvet and The Refugees.

Under Suspicion (10×70′) is a thriller from Bambú Producciones, with Germany’s Beta Film attached for distribution. It is currently in post-production for broadcast in Spain in early 2015.

Created by Ramon Campos, Teresa Fernandez Valdés and Gema Rodriguez Neira, the show stars Yon González (Grand Hotel), Blanca Romero (Benjamin Button) and Lluís Homar (Grand Hotel).

“Bambu’s previous productions, such as Grand Hotel and Velvet, were hot sellers in our portfolio,” said Beta Film’s senior VP of acquisitions and sales Christian Gockel.

Under Suspicion follows the disappearance of a seven-year-old girl through the eyes of two cops who must pretend to be a married couple to infiltrate the small village in which it happened.

“It’s Broadchurch in Spain,” said Beta Film MD Eric Welbers, who has been busy launching plenty of other dramas this week in Cannes. Among these are Sky Italia thriller 1992 (10×60’), announced on Monday.

Beta has also teamed up with Sky Germany, pubcaster ARD and prodco X-Filme on Babylon Berlin, based on the novels by Volker Kutscher. German director Tom Tykwer (Perfume – The Story of a Murderer) has signed up as showrunner.

The period series, to be produced over 12 hours in German, will start shooting in 2015. Set in 1920s Berlin, the series mixes the cop genre with the feel of 1972 movie Cabaret, added Welbers, and culminates with the election of the Nazis in 1933.

Gary Davey, exec VP of programming at Sky Germany, said the show “is not only our first investment in a major German production but also the close cooperation with ARD is just as important for us.”

Jan Mojto, CEO of Beta Film, added: “This concentration of financial means is a new way in Germany to realise high-intensity projects in a quality that, although being shot in German, is very competitive around the world.”

Lastly, Beta’s other big launch this week is Shades of Guilt (6×60′), from Constantin Film for German pubcaster ZDF. The legal series is an anthology of self-contained stories, linked only by the fact they feature the same defence lawyer.