Global buyers embark on world tour with Bettany Hughes, DCD Rights

Treasures with Bettany Hughes was produced by Sandstone Global Productions

MIPCOM: Broadcasters in Australia, Canada, Belgium and Scandinavia has signed pre-sale deals with UK distributor DCD Rights for a new travel series hosted by historian and author Bettany Hughes.

Produced by Sandstone Global Productions during lockdown, Treasures with Bettany Hughes (6×60’) has now been acquired by SBS in Australia, Knowledge Network in Canada, VRT in Belgium, Geo Television for German-speaking Europe and Viasat World for Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and CIS.

Produced in association with BBC World News, the show was described by DCD as “armchair travel at its most vivid and memorable” and sees Hughes “lift the lid on the most remarkable treasures of civilisation to investigate the story of humanity.”

Another of DCD’s travel series, Scottish Islands with Ben Fogle (4×60’), has also been acquired by Australian multicultural pubcaster SBS. The series is being produced by Tern TV Productions for BBC One and BBC Scotland.

DCD will be shopping the two series at Mipcom this week, alongside Secrets of the London Underground (6×60’). This documentary series is produced by Bob Brown Productions for UKTV channel Yesterday and sees railway historian Tim Dunn and the London Transport Museum’s Siddy Holloway explore the disused parts of London’s underground network.

“We have found that our travel and history programming has been particularly sought-after by international broadcasters during this difficult time for international travel. We expect there will be even longer bucket lists of desired locations to visit after these inspirational series air,” said Nicky Davies Williams, CEO at DCD Rights.