Japan’s Wowow picks up UKTV reboot of 1980s crime drama Bergerac from Banijay

The reboot of detective series Bergerac is set for a second season

Japanese pay TV broadcaster Wowow has acquired UKTV’s reimagining of Channel Islands-set detective drama Bergerac, which is based on the BBC series from the 1980s.

Produced by Banijay UK’s BlackLight TV and Jersey-based Westward Studios for streamer U and linear channel U&Drama, Bergerac (6×60’) is distributed by Banijay Rights and was recently commissioned for a second season.

Wowow will launch the series on the Wowow Prime channel and Wowow On Demand in August. The agreement follows previously announced international sales to broadcasters including NPO in Netherlands, VRT in Belgium, SVT in Sweden, YLE in Finland, NRK in Norway, DR in Denmark, BBC First in Poland, TVNZ in New Zealand and ABC in Australia.

The modern retelling of Bergerac is based on the original series created by Robert Banks Stewart, which starred John Nettles as the eponymous detective and ran for nine seasons on UK pubcaster the BBC between 1981 and 1991. The reboot is written by Toby Whithouse, Brian Fillis, Catherine Tregenna and Polly Buckle.