Campaign Profile

Fremantle’s London TV Screenings slate mixes Catherine Zeta-Jones drama, a Baywatch reimagining for Fox and music documentaries on Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. Jens Richter says the company is balancing star power, proven IP and formatted entertainment for the international market.

Fremantle arrives at this year’s London TV Screenings with a slate designed to address the current market’s competing demands for established intellectual property and original storytelling. Jens Richter, CEO of commercial and international at the production and distribution company, characterises the approach simply as “entertaining the buyers with amazing stuff and great shows,” though the line-up itself reveals a strategic balancing of prestige drama, recognisable brands and format-driven unscripted content.

The company’s scripted offerings span multiple genres, with Kill Jackie positioned as a flagship drama that combines star power with commercial promise. Catherine Zeta-Jones leads the eight-part series as an art dealer whose legitimate business is a front for her money-laundering and tax evasion operations.

“She is a successful high-class art dealer, helping wealthy clients with tax evasion, however, within the pilot episode, her past catches up with her,” Richter explains. “And in the past, she was an international drug trafficker. She was a big-time drug dealer, and some of her old nemesis come back to her life and then she has to make use of her old toolkit and of her old capabilities.”

Currently in production with Amazon UK as partner, the series represents Fremantle’s bet on what Richter describes as “fun, action, a light, entertaining tonality” rather than the grittier crime dramas that have dominated some recent streamer commissioning.

The company’s other scripted presentations include The Cage, a high-stakes crime drama set in a gangster-run casino made for the BBC with Element Pictures and starring Sharon Smith and Michael Soccer as flawed, instantly likeable underdogs who aren’t your typical villains. The Season, meanwhile, is a coproduction with SK Global for Hulu in the US and Viu platforms in Asia. The drama explores crime and scandal within Hong Kong’s elite high society. “That show plays in the elite high society class in Hong Kong, and it is scandal crime in the upper-class world, and that’s always highly entertaining,” Richter notes.

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited scripted project is Baywatch, the iconic lifeguard series that originally ran for 199 episodes in the 1980s and 1990s. Fremantle plans to begin production later this year for Fox Network on what Richter frames as a reimagining rather than straightforward reboot. “You can think about it a little bit like the original Top Gun and compare that with Top Gun Maverick,” he suggests. “So, we take the DNA of the classic show of Baywatch, but we clearly translate it into 2026.”

The ongoing success of Canadian drama Sullivan’s Crossing, from Robyn Carr’s bestselling novels, provides Fremantle with a concrete case study in multi-platform windowing strategy. The drama completed three seasons with Bell in Canada, sold to local broadcasters internationally, then moved to Netflix for second-window distribution. “Just before this interview, I checked it out. It’s currently number four in the top 10 on Netflix globally,” Richter notes. Season four is currently in post-production.

Fremantle’s unscripted slate demonstrates the company’s continued investment in documentary biography alongside format-driven entertainment. The Michael Jackson Story, a four-part series from 72 Films for BBC Two, aims to provide definitive coverage of Jackson’s career arc from the Jackson Five through global superstardom to scandal and litigation. The timing proves particularly strategic, with the series scheduled for second-quarter transmission to coincide with Lionsgate’s theatrical Michael Jackson film. “I think the timing is just fantastic,” Richter observes.

Music biography continues with McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass, a two-hour Passion Pictures documentary for the BBC that Richter characterises as “a rock ‘n’ roll detective story featuring exclusive new interviews from McCartney himself.” The premise, focused on Paul McCartney’s search for a lost bass guitar, provides a narrative structure that elevates the show from the standard biographical documentary. Billy Idol Should be Dead rounds out the music documentary offerings with what Richter describes as “an all-access portrait of a rock music icon who is very much alive.”

Fremantle’s entertainment format offerings reveal the company’s efforts to identify the next generation of travelling gameshows and reality competitions. Hitster, described as “a high-energy musical time-travel gameshow format,” derives from a music card game already selling in over 50 countries. The show has secured commissions from RTL4 in the Netherlands, RTL in Germany, and a two-season deal with TVL in Canada. Richter positions it as “fun, fast, nostalgic and for all the family.”

Handcuffed, a reality competition format from 72 Films for Channel 4, takes a more provocative approach by literally handcuffing two strangers with opposing beliefs together for 24 hours as they compete for a cash prize. Richter characterises it as “funny, awkward but also warm, making it must-watch entertainment.”

Talent show Idols’ quarter-century anniversary provides Fremantle with an opportunity to highlight the format’s enduring commercial appeal. The latest season of American Idol on ABC launched with what Richter describes as “stellar ratings for the opening episode on ABC, and across platforms Hulu and Disney+, scoring the biggest season debut in four years.”

The format’s evolution to incorporate real-time voting through social media platforms represents what Richter positions as innovation, noting it marks “the first time in TV history for a US reality competition” that fans can vote this way.

The Idols format’s longevity provides reassurance to broadcasters seeking proven programming that can deliver consistent audiences. Embracing real-time voting through social media gives the veteran format freshness while preserving the core elements that have sustained the format’s appeal across multiple territories and broadcasting generations.

Taken together, Fremantle’s London TV Screenings slate reflects pragmatic recognition of current market realities. The mix of star-driven original drama, intellectual property revivals, music documentary and format entertainment provides multiple entry points for buyers with different programming needs and budget constraints. The inclusion of established brands like Baywatch and American Idol sit alongside original concepts like Kill Jackie and Handcuffed.

This week’s London TV Screenings, of which Fremantle is a co-founder, is increasingly a key part of the annual industry calendar and it seems distributors are embracing the change. Richter sums up his focus for the company’s Friday presentation: “We’ve put together a pretty impressive line-up and, and that’s the simple goal, to impress, have an impact and provide the right shows for our buyers. So, we’re excited.”