BBC Studios India, ZEE5 sign partnership, prep Hindi version of BBC drama

Sonali Bendre in The Broken News

BBC Studios in India and local streaming platform ZEE5 have entered a partnership, with a Hindi adaptation of BBC drama Press becoming the first project to emerge from the deal.

Under the alliance, the two companies will build a slate of new ZEE5 Global originals in Hindi across genres, with a particular emphasis on producing local versions of British formats.

Journalism drama Press, which was created by Doctor Foster‘s Mike Bartlett and starred Charlotte Riley, is being adapted as Hindi show The Broken News. The original series was produced by Lookout Point, BBC Studios and Deep Indigo.

The Broken News will focus on journalists working at two rival Mumbai-based news channels. It stars Jaideep Alhawat and Shriya Pilgaonkar along with Sonali Bendre. Vinay Waikul serves as director.

In related news, BBC Studios and food-themed online brand Tastemade have agreed a development and production partnership to bring longform and shortform branded content to young and diverse audiences on social and streaming platforms.

Under the deal, BBC Studios Productions will serve as the lead producer of midform and longform series, with all content to be distributed on Tastemade’s social and streaming networks, which reach over 300 million monthly viewers around the world. Programming will include premium factual entertainment and lifestyle formats.

Tastemade creates original content in the categories of food, travel and home and design across its social and streaming channels, which are available in the Americas, EMEA and Asia and on the Tastemade+ app. The company has more than 160 million followers across social platforms globally and is available in more than 140 million television homes around the world.