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Chorion lines up Manga Marple, ITV renewal Agatha Christie's silver-haired, handbag-wielding sleuth Miss Marple is set for an unlikely new lease of life in Japanese manga comics, as rights holder Chorion eyes expansion plans following a 35% hike in profits. The veteran detective's return to television screens in the UK last year was highlighted today as one of the factors behind the rise in Chorion's pre-tax profits from £3.2m in 2003 to £4.3m in 2004. The programme, coproduced by Chorion, Granada and US station PBS, has brought the Agatha Christie character to a new generation, with four two-hour dramas on ITV1 last autumn averaging a 33% audience share on Sunday evenings. The series of TV films is due to air in the US on PBS's national network later this year and Chorion said today that ITV had doubled its original commission, ordering at least eight more instalments over the next two years.  In a tie-up with Japan's terrestrial general entertainment network, NHK1, 2004 also saw Miss Marple make her first appearance in a 39-episode animated series (right).Chorion said today it was exploring with NHK the potential for selling this overseas, as well as developing a range of manga or graphic novels, a medium generating increasing levels of international interest. The company's other crime brands include fellow Agatha Christie character Poirot and Georges Simenon's Maigret in France, plus the recently acquired Raymond Chandler estate, famed for the gumshoe detective Philip Marlowe. Overall, the division saw a 13% rise in gross profit to £7.6m. But this growth was eclipsed by Chorion's children's business, which includes the Noddy and recently-acquired Mr Men brands, where gross profit leapt 51% to £5.1m. Chorion chairman Lord Waheed Alli described this part of the company as having experienced "an exceptionally strong year". Its present flagship programme brand, Make Way for Noddy, has been sold to more than 100 countries. Worldwide retail sales based on the character rose to £45m from just under £30m a year earlier and the series' launch in the US, China and Japan later this year is expected to continue this upward trend, generating £65m in the present year. Production of a new TV series based on the Mr Men, to which Chorion acquired the rights last year, is due to get underway later this year, with a tender whittled down to two separate animation studios. The final product is expected to be delivered to broadcasters in 2006. Chorion said it was on the hunt for further children's content to acquire and plans to put a brand new children's TV series into production for launch in 2006-07. Jonathan Webdale 16 Mar 2005 © C21 Media 2005 
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