BBC First bags Gere drama for Oz, NZ

Richard Gere and Helen McCrory star in MotherFatherSon

BBC First in Australia and New Zealand has picked up three dramas fronted by talent including Richard Gere, Helen Hunt and Tom Hardy.

Pretty Woman actor Gere is returning to TV for the first time in 30 years in MotherFatherSon, which is produced by BBC Studios and is set to debut on BBC2 in the UK today.

The 8×60’ political and psychological thriller is from author and screenwriter Tom Rob Smith (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, London Spy) and explores how a mighty media empire is threatened when its family owners turn on each other.

Peaky Blinders’ Helen McCrory and Billy Howle (On Chesil Beach) also star, with BBCS selling internationally.

Hunt fronts Second World War drama World on Fire, which is being produced by ITV Studios-owned Mammoth Screen for BBC1 in the UK and has been written by Peter Bowker. ITVS sells the show, which also features Game of Thrones star Sean Bean.

BBC First has also added the second season of FX and BBC drama Taboo, created by Steven Knight with Hardy, who also stars.

The show, set in the early 19th century and about a man who returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire, is produced by Scott Free London and Hardy Son and Baker. The first season has been sold around the world by Sonar Entertainment.