Drive revs up int’l factual sales

Eight Days that Made Rome is fronted by Bettany Hughes

US cablenet Smithsonian Channel and Australian pubcaster SBS are among the broadcasters to have acquired factual programming from UK production-funding and distribution outfit Drive.

Eight Days that Made Rome (8×60’) has been picked up by Smithsonian for North America, SBS TV for Australia and Viasat World for Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

The series, a coproduction between October Films and Krempelwood for Channel 5 in the UK, explores eight days that defined Rome’s history, presented by historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes.

Discovery Italy has bought the second seasons of user-generated content series The World’s Deadliest Drivers (13×30’) and The World’s Deadliest Weather (13×60’), co-created by Drive and UK indie Back2Back Productions.

The World’s Deadliest Drivers presents some of the most dangerous road incidents from across the globe. Drive originally secured presales from BBC Brit and Discovery Networks International to finance the series, and Discovery will air the show across Latin America and on Quest in the UK. BBC Brit will carry it in Africa, Poland and the Nordics.

The World’s Deadliest Weather uses archive footage of some of the most extraordinary weather on the planet. Drive previously secured presales for the programme to BBC Worldwide for BBC Earth in the Nordics, Africa, Poland, Asia and CEE.

Viasat World has also bought Volatile Earth (3×60’) from Drive for Scandinavia and CEE. The series will be exclusive to pay TV and includes VoD rights for the first year.

Both Volatile Earth and Eight Days that Made Rome will air on Viasat History in 2018. Volatile Earth follows leading natural disaster experts as they identify the most extreme catastrophes to have hit the planet.

The show was originally produced by Blink Films for PBS Nova and Channel 4. It received support from EU Media Plus, a European Commission fund, and the Volcano episode was a coproduction between Arte and Kwanza productions.