France’s Upside TV breaks into fiction

French distributor Upside TV has expanded its activities by acquiring rights to its first fictional property, the complete library of Maigret TV films adapted from books by detective author Georges Simenon.

To tie in with the 100th anniversary of Simenon’s birth, Upside TV will now handle licences for the Maigret films (54×90′) in Germany and Austria.

The series, a copro between Dune, TSR / RTBF, Ceska TV, Artemis Productions and Filmes do Tejo, has already aired on France 2, TSR and RTBF.

Maigret stars actor Bruno Crémer as a police commissioner with a unique style of investigation. The back catalogue includes films Maigret Hesitates, Maigret And The Gangsters, Liberty Bar and Maigret In Vichy.

Upside also handles international sales for the Intervilles challenge format (aka It’s A Knock Out), originally sold by Mistral Productions.

Upside covers territories new to the format, while Mistral manages territories as France, the UK, Germany, China, Morocco and Vietnam, which have all previously acquired the show.

After picking up a license for the format in May, Portuguese commercial broadcaster SIC scored a ratings hit with Intervilles. The show captured a 37.2% market share earlier this month.