Canada’s Serial Maven unveils slate including Rolf Harris doc Prime Time Predator

Prime Time Predator looks at the scandal surrounding paedophile Rolf Harris

Serial Maven Studios in Canada has over 600 hours of new programming lined up for Mipcom next week, led by Prime Time Predator, a two-part documentary about Australian entertainer and convicted paedophile Rolf Harris.

Commissioned by Australian pubcaster the ABC, the 2×60’ doc comes from Northern Pictures and Arrow Media, with investment from Screen Australia, Amazon UK and Screen NSW.

The doc charts Harris’s rise to fame in the UK and down under and his fall following his 2014 conviction on 12 counts of indecent assault against girls and young women. Made in the wake of Harris’s death, it features interviews with some of his victims.

Other true crime docs and series on Serial Maven’s slate include The Dunblane Tapes (1×90′, Candour Productions for Channel 4 in the UK), Who Killed Little Christine? (3×60′, Peacock Alley Entertainment for Paramount+ US and Anthem), Rhianan: Schoolgirl Terrorist? (1×60′, Candour Productions for Channel 4) and We Are Jeni (2×60′, Arrow Media and Smith & Nasht for SBS in Australia, Discovery ID in the US and Discovery EMEA).

Also in the crime space are Cause of Death USA (12×60′) and Cause of Death: The Case Files (12×60’), both produced by Candour Productions for Paramount-owned 5 in the UK; Geordie Coppers (10×60′, Candour Productions for Channel 4); and Crime Fix (578×30′) and Scandal (348×30′), both from Law&Crime Productions for Law&Crime.

Specialist factual docs include Empire of Bats (1×60′, Primitive Entertainment for the CBC in Canada), Unsolved Universe (7×30′, Colbyvision for Canada’s TVO), Scientist’s Guide To (6×30′, Curiosity Films for TVO), Donkey Kings (17×30′, Monument TV for the ABC in the US) and Baby Elephant School (4×60′, Big Wave and Cantina Media for Channel 4, the CBC and France’s Arte).

Other documentaries on the slate include Love Forever (1×90′, Antica Productions for the CBC) and season three of Mega Marine Machines (12×60′, Arcadia Entertainment for National Geographic International).

In factual entertainment, Serial Maven has paranormal competition series The Great Ghost Challenge (6×60′, Colin Company) and World’s Busiest (4×60′, Arrow Media and Group M for 5 and Discovery).

The unscripted slate is completed by lifestyle series The County (10×60′, RTR Media) and Small Town Escapes with Colin & Justin (20×30′, Ocean Entertainment), both for HGTV in Canada.

On the scripted side, Serial Maven is launching French-Canadian dark comedy Angles Morts (10×30′, A Media and C3 Media for Radio-Canada). From Jacques Davidts, the series follows an oncologist who hatches a plan with two friends to fund a cancer research centre by buying life insurance policies from terminally ill patients.