AMC lands ITVS’s War of the Worlds

Rafe Spall and Eleanor Tomlinson star in War of the Worlds

US cablenet AMC has picked up the latest television adaptation of HG Wells’ seminal tale The War of the Worlds as part of a raft of drama sales secured by ITV Studios ahead of this week’s London Screenings.

On the eve of its third annual Drama Festival, the distribution arm of UK commercial broadcaster ITV has unveiled a scripted slate and announced a string of sales around the world.

Mammoth Screen-produced The War of the Worlds will air on AMC’s subscription service AMC Premiere.

Another Mammoth title, Noughts + Crosses, based on the award-winning young adult novel series by Malorie Blackman, has been sold to HBO Europe and BBC First in Australia.

Mammoth’s epic Second World War drama World on Fire has been picked up by BBC First and BBC Player Asia along with Mainstreet Pictures’ character-driven relationship thriller Gold Digger, starring Emmy-winner Julia Ormond.

Both titles are also making their way into Latin America with pan-regional satellite TV service DirecTV, which has also acquired ITV Studios’ factual drama A Confession from Urban Myth Films.

A Confession will also be available on Magenta TV (Deutsche Telecom) Germany, Telefonica in Spain, SVT in Sweden, Cineplex in Thailand, Channel Zero in Canada, Britbox in Canada, YES in Israel, Viacom and Okko in Russia and BBC New Zealand, which has also picked up Stick & Stones.

TVNZ has acquired Genial Productions’ new comedy drama starring Dawn French, The Trouble With Maggie Cole, which delves into what happens when idle gossip escalates, and Silverprint Pictures’ family drama meets contemporary thriller Flesh & Blood.

Flesh & Blood has also been acquired by Network Seven in Australia, KT Corp in Korea, Virgin Media Eire and RTV in Slovenia.

Additionally, all six seasons of Emmy-nominated Schitt’s Creek have been sold in a pan-regional deal to ViacomCBS Networks Americas.

ITV’s slate for the Drama Festival in London this week includes World Productions’ forthcoming adrenaline-fuelled thriller Vigil (6×60’), starring Suranne Jones, which unravels a high-stakes conspiracy threatening the very heart of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, a Trident nuclear submarine.

The Singapore Grip (6×60), from Mammoth Screen, is an adaptation by Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton from JG Farrell’s classic novel and is described as an ambitious and exotic family saga set in colonial Singapore during the Second World War.

Finally, inspired by the short stories created by Anaïs Nin, Little Birds (6×60’) comes from Warp Films and is set in Morocco in 1955, centring on two very different women: troubled American heiress Lucy Savage (Juno Temple) and Moroccan dominatrix Cherifa Lamour (Yumna Marwan).