Blue Ant Int’l preps largest Mipcom slate with trio of titles focused on royal family

Documentary special Born to be King is due to be delivered early next year

Blue Ant International is headed to Mipcom with a “significantly expanded slate” following its acquisition of UK-based distributor Drive earlier this year, including programming across crime, specialist factual, documentary, scripted and a trio of projects centring on members of the British royal family.

In total, the distribution arm of Canada’s Blue Ant Media is bringing more than 1,100 hours of content, its largest ever offering, including the newly greenlit documentary special Born to be King (1×60’, Touchdown Films), which explores the life of King Charles III. The company is launching pre-sales on the project, set to be delivered in early 2023.

Also on the slate is King Charles’ Grand Design, about the purchase and restoration of Dumfries House, and Prince Andrew: Banished, which charts the events leading to Prince Andrew’s sex trafficking allegation scandal.

Among its specialist factual titles are Chasing the Rains (4×60′, Maramedia), Planet Shark (3×60’, Big Wave Productions), Uptown Otters (6×60’, Beach House Pictures), Woodpeckers: The Hole Story (1×60’, Coneflower Studios) and Loons: A Cry from the Mist (1×60’, Yap Films) – all of which are originals for Blue Ant’s natural history and wildlife brand Love Nature.

It is also launching sales on history titles such as Bettany Hughes’ Grand Tour: From Paris to Rome (4×60’, Sandstone), Greatest Discoveries with Dan Snow (3×60’, History Hit) and Pride and Prostitution (1×60’, One Tribe TV).

Its crime slate for Mipcom 2022 includes Big Little Crimes (10×60’, Brown Bob Productions), The Defenders (3×60’, Spring Films) and season four of Killer in my Family (8×60, Woodcut Media).

Framing Agnes (1×90’, Fae Pictures), which uncovers a study about sex disorders in the late 1950s, and Uri Geller’s Secret Treasures (1×90′, Coleman Television), about the life of the Israeli-British illusionist, are among new additions to the documentary slate.

On the scripted side, Blue Ant International’s slate features popular sketch comedy series Baroness Von Sketch Show (46×30’, Frantic Films) and adult animated comedy Doomlands Season 1 (10×15’, Look Mom! Productions).

The acquisition of Drive, which was revealed in June, brought an additional 900 hours of programming into Blue Ant International’s portfolio.

As part of the deal, Drive’s founders and joint MDs, Ben Barrett and Lilla Hurst, joined Blue Ant International as global head of content financing and partnerships and global head of acquisitions and partnerships respectively.