ITVSGE rides with Rangers, Aquarius

MIPTV: ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVSGE) has picked up international distribution rights to US historical miniseries Texas Rangers, US crime series Aquarius and Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek.

The projects join previously announced US series The Good Witch and UK miniseries The Great Fire on ITVSGE’s MipTV slate.

Texas Rising (4×120′), ordered last month by A+E Networks’ History channel, will star Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser and Ray Liotta in a story set against the backdrop of the 1835 Texas War of Independence. The series will be coproduced by A+E Studios and ITVS America and produced by ITV stablemate Thinkfactory Media (Hatfields & McCoys), with Thinkfactory’s Leslie Greif exec producing and Roland Joffe directing.

Aquarius (13×60′), which will star David Duchovny as a Los Angeles police sergeant on the trail of Charles Manson, was given a straight-to-series order by NBC last week. ITVS America will produce the series, written by John McNamara, in association with Marty Adelstein Productions.

Schitt’s Creek (13×30′), created by Eugene Levy for Canadian broadcaster CBC and starring Levy and Catherine O’Hara, is about a rich video store magnate forced to relocate his family to a little town he once bought. Not A Real Company Productions is producing with Levy, Dan Levy, Fred Levy, Andrew Barnsley and Ben Feigin of Anonymous Content executive producing.

The Good Witch, based on the movies of the same name, is a 10-episode series ordered by the Hallmark Channel with Whizbang Films producing. The Great Fire, inspired by the historical events in London of 1666, is written by novelist Tom Bradby, ITV News’ political editor. The project was announced last year.

Maria Kyriacou, ITVSGE MD, said of the latest pick-ups: “Quality, scripted programming is a key genre for us and to have secured these fantastic titles, which boast multi-award winning on and off-screen talent, is a significant move.”