BBC’s Small Prophets, Crave’s Heated Rivalry among Sphere Abacus’s Mipcom offerings

Mackenzie Crook appears in and created dark comedy Small Prophets

Sphere Abacus, the UK-based distributor majority-owned by Canada’s Bell Media, is heading to Mipcom with a scripted slate including Mackenzie Crook’s dark comedy Small Prophets (BBC).

The slate also includes psychological thriller Hunting Alice Bell (Channel 4), ice hockey drama Heated Rivalry (Crave), legal drama Pierre (Channel 4) and season two of menopause comedy Small Achievable Goals (CBC).

On the history and factual front, the company’s roster of offerings will include The Maya: War of the Five Kingdoms (Canal+), Original Gangsters with Sean Bean (Sky History), S2 of Queens That Changed the World (BBC Select) and a raft of Channel 4 series such as Dolly the Sheep, Elvis & The Mob, Marilyn & The Mob and Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child?

Its slate also features travelogues Neil and Martin’s Bon Voyage (U&Gold), Kevin McCloud’s Classic Drives (Channel 4) and Arabia’s Best Kept Secrets with Clive Standen (Discovery), as well as factual docuseries I’m Carl Lewis!, Wilder (American Masters) and Channel 5 series Freddie Mercury: A Secret Daughter?, Prince William: A Life in Pictures and Charles: The Comeback King.

Sphere Abacus is gearing up for its first Mipcom since Bell Media acquired a majority stake in the Jonathan Ford-led company. With the deal, announced in March, Bell Media became a majority owner of Sphere Abacus while maintaining its minority position in its parent company, Montreal-based Sphere Media.

In a statement, Sphere Abacus’s head of acquisitions, Will Stapley, noted that the company can “now offer producers coproduction opportunities in Canada, as well as achieving pre-sales to Bell Media” via its relationships with Bell Media and Sphere Media.