Campaign Profile

This month’s C21 Marketplace Hot Properties playlist offers 17 new and returning titles for buyers to check out, featuring a journey to medieval Japan, a look at money’s corrupting influence on sport and a visit to one of the world’s most remote fishing communities.

First up in formats world we have The Animal Within II from Autentic Distribution. Looking under the hoods of the world’s most majestic beasts, this series provides a glimpse of engineering at its finest, revealing how these elegant machines forged of flesh and blood have meticulously evolved to survive and flourish in the wild.

Sitting exposed in the middle of the Gulf of St Lawrence off the coast of Canada, the Magdalen Islands are home to one of the most resilient fishing communities on the planet. For centuries, these families have earned their living from the same brutal waters that nearly killed their ancestors. But today, the fight is fiercer than ever. Battling busted gear, mounting debt, vanishing quotas and the constant threat of sudden storms, The Last Captains (Sphere Abacus) risk everything to haul in the ocean’s last great prizes.

The Lost Castle of Azuchi – The Age of Samurai (Terranoa) follows the struggle to bring back to life one of medieval Japan’s most spectacular monuments. Part fortress, part palace, this legendary, highly strategic castle is about to be reborn in computer-generated imagery, and a key period in the country’s history, when reunification was at stake, will be revealed.

From off-grid retreats to architectural marvels, All3Media International’s Wild Homes with George Clarke reveals the challenges and rewards of living in remote and breathtaking island homes across New Zealand and Australia’s rugged coastlines, where nature shapes every aspect of life.

Chronicling the chilling true crime stories of implausible young killers hiding in plain sight, Most Likely to Murder (Cineflix Rights) takes viewers to American high schools and campuses, revealing that – from straight-A students to the star quarterback – the cold-blooded killer is the person you’d least suspect. Meanwhile, encrypted chats and global takedowns form the basis of one of crime’s biggest busts in ITV Studios’ Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text.

For those in search of lighter fare, DCD Rights’ Bill Bailey’s Vietnam Adventure follows the comedian, raconteur and musician as he travels the length of modern Vietnam on the 50th anniversary of the dramatic withdrawal of the US forces from Saigon. Immersing himself in its rich culture, stunning landscapes and complex history, he uncovers what makes this fascinating country tick.

Stranded On Honeymoon Island (Seven.One Studios International) finds couples, matched by experts marooned on a deserted island and left to fend for themselves for three weeks. Will the experience lead to love or loathing?

America Says (Sony Pictures Television Formats) is a fast-paced studio gameshow where two teams face off to guess their nation’s responses to fill-in-the-blanks survey questions, covering all kinds of topics. Learn more about your nation, one guess at a time!

Sport vs Money from Viaplay Content Distribution tells the inside story of the collision between football and business. Across four episodes, Simon Jordan, the Premier League’s youngest-ever owner, travels the globe to uncover how decisions made by football’s top executives in the early 1990s transformed the world’s most beloved sport into a vast entertainment industry.

There is much intrigue in the world of drama this month, starting with Wowow’s Sai. Whenever a mysterious man appears in town, a brutal murder occurs. Always changing his occupation, his personality, his facial expression, his tone of voice, even the way he laughs and walks, will the police ever figure out the killer’s true identity? Meanwhile, a female prosecutor must confront the suspicious death of her friend in TV Asahi Corporation’s Destiny. This leads her to examine the truth behind her father’s murder 20 years before and uncover the secret faces of her ex-boyfriend.

In StudioFact Rights’ Flight Mode, four strangers wake up, groggy, on a deserted island rigged with surveillance cameras. Stripped of their belongings, each has been given a phone, empty, with no apps or connection. A message from a masked captor soon arrives: they must uncover the reason for their abduction within 48 hours if they want to stay alive.

A reimagining of the BAFTA- and Cannes Grand Prix-winning and Academy Award-nominated film, gritty crime drama A Prophet (StudioCanal) follows an African immigrant youngster’s rise to power in Marseille’s brutal underworld. Themes of survival and social hierarchies make for a compelling tale reflecting on how modern societies treat their most vulnerable.

When plastic surgeon Mathieu Belmont is found murdered in his clinic’s parking lot, it proves a sensitive case for captain Santoni, as Belmont was the person who reconstructed her face after she was assaulted two years before. With the case attracting intense media attention, a journalist decides to dive into the controversial world of ‘fake’ beauty, where image is everything and truth is anything but Skin Deep (Federation Studios).

Set against the haunting backdrop of Auvergne in central France, Nothing Can Erase You (Banijay Entertainment) follows Maddi, a mother still grappling with the devastating loss of her son, Esteban, in a tragic accident a decade ago.

Finally, for the kids, there is a warm welcome to Attic Town in Miam! Animation’s The Tinies, in which Ollie and her best friend Titus turn their crafting skills into superpowers to fix toy-sized squabbles in, while Armorsaurs (Cake) is an action-adventure series 65 million years in the making.

That’s all for this month, stay tuned for more Hot Properties throughout the year!