C4 spies Eagle Eye drama

Commercially funded UK pubcaster Channel 4 has commissioned a six-part drama from the new production company launched by the team behind international drama brand Walter Presents.

Walter Iuzzolino

Before We Die is being produced by Eagle Eye Drama, which was launched last year by Walter Iuzzolino, Jo McGrath and Jason Thorp to focus on English-language drama series inspired by hit foreign-language titles that have come through the Walter Presents platform.

Based on the hit Swedish series of the same name, Before We Die is set in Bristol and stars Lesley Sharp, Vincent Regan and Patrick Gibson.

Sharp (Scott & Bailey, Three Girls, Bob & Rose) leads the cast as detective Hannah Laing, who becomes deeply conflicted when she discovers her son is playing a crucial role as an undercover informant in a murder investigation.

Commissioned by C4 head of drama Caroline Hollick and commissioning editor Gwen Gorst, the series will be directed by Belgian director Jan Matthys (Baptiste, The Last Kingdom, Our Girl) and has been adapted by Matt Baker. It will be filmed in Bristol and Belgium later this year, with McGrath, Iuzzolino and Bert Hamelinck as exec producers.

The series is produced by Eagle Eye Drama in association with Caviar and is supported by Screen Flanders, DPG Media and the Belgian tax shelter via Caviar Film Financing. PBS Distribution holds the North American rights and ZDF Enterprises will distribute the series worldwide.

In related news, C4 has also greenlit a daytime series that will offer two strangers the opportunity to get their feet on the property ladder.

Presented by Simon O’Brien (Find It, Fix It, Flog It; Lost and Found), The Great House Giveaway sees two people who have never met and have never owned a home before given a lump sum to buy a property at auction. The pair will then have six months to revive the property into a habitable and desirable home ahead of selling it on. If they don’t sell, the house goes back to auction.

The 20×60’ series is made by Welsh independent production company Chwarel. Sioned Morys is the exec producer of the series, which was commissioned by Kate Thomas, commissioning editor for daytime.