BBC Studios, Finland’s YLE renew long-standing output deal

Natural history series Kingdom is part of the package deal

MIPCOM: BBC Studios and Finnish public service broadcaster YLE have renewed their long-standing multi-genre output deal.

The extension, unveiled on the first day of Mipcom, makes the partnership one of BBC Studios’ longest running in EMEA, with almost three decades of co-operation.

Under the renewed agreement, YLE retains first look access to a range of content across BBC Studios’ compelling scripted and unscripted catalogue.

Unscripted titles include a pre-sale of new natural history series Kingdom, and the reimagining of Walking With Dinosaurs from BBC Studios’ Science Unit Production and coproduced with ZDF and France Télévisions.  Documentary titles include Scandinavia with Simon Reeve which sees the adventurer travel through some of the most spectacular scenery on earth.

The agreement will also see YLE acquire new dramas including Firebird Pictures’ Outrageous, which brings the full, uncensored story of the Mitford sisters to the screen for the first time, and Lynley a new imagining of the compelling mystery crime series based on the bestselling books by Elizabeth George.

Death Valley, the hit series about an unlikely crime-solving partnership set against a stunning Welsh backdrop, and Return to Paradise Australia’s highly successful spin-off of the global smash-hit Death in Paradise, are also included.