Blue Ant Media orders first originals for BBC First, BBC Earth in Canada

BBC First in Canada has joined broadcasters in the UK, Australia and New Zealand aboard the latest travel series fronted by Welsh comedian and presenter Griff Rhys Jones.

Griff Rhys Jones

Griff’s Great Canadian Adventure (6×60′) is set to air on BBC First in Canada in spring next year and marks the first original commission on the network, which was launched by BBC Studios (BBCS) and Blue Ant Media in March.

The show is a Nikki Ray Media Agency and EQ Media Group coproduction in association with Blue Ant Media, Channel 4 in the UK, Abacus Media Rights, Quiver Entertainment, ABC in Australia and The History Channel in New Zealand.

It will see Rhys Jones, host of previous travel series such as Griff’s Great Kiwi Road Trip and Griff’s Great Australian Rail Trip, travelling by seaplane, train, cargo boat, dogsled and monster truck as he explores Canadian cultures and traditions.

Canadian producer, distributor and channel operator Blue Ant is also preparing its first originals for BBC Earth, which it partnered with BBCS to launch in 2017.

Produced by Blue Ant Digital and scheduled for spring 2022, the 60-minute specials The Digital Divide (working title) and Strange Creatures (wt) will be distributed by Blue Ant International and both are set to premiere online before airing on BBC Earth.

The Digital Divide explores the growing chasm between the haves and have-nots of digital, mobile and satellite technology and will have a digital premiere on the Blue Ant Media-owned tech website MobileSyrup.

Strange Creatures, meanwhile, explores Canada’s unusual and fascinating creatures and will premiere on the Animalogic YouTube Channel fronted by Animalogic’s scientific illustrator Danielle Dufault.

Blue Ant Media’s forthcoming slate of originals, overseen by head of original content Sam Linton, also includes renewals for Life Below Zero: Canada (Cottage Life), Merchants of the Wild (Cottage Life), Ice Vikings (Cottage Life) and World’s Most Scenic River Journeys (Smithsonian Channel).

The latter 10×60’ documentary series, narrated by Bill Nighy, is a copro between Argonon-owned BriteSpark East and Blue Ant Studios-owned Saloon Media, co-commissioned for Smithsonian Channel in Canada with ViacomCBS-owned Channel 5 in the UK.

T+E, meanwhile, will air Eli Roth Presents: A Ghost Ruined My Life (8×60′), a copro between Blue Ant Media and Discovery+ with producer Cream Productions, and The Lost Colony of Roanoke (1×90′), coproduced by Saloon Media and BriteSpark Films.