RTÉ, Arte doc marks APT first

Hugh Bonneville fronts Countdown to Calvary

Irish pubcaster RTÉ has revealed the first project to come from its coproduction deal with Franco-German channel Arte, which also marks its first copro with American Public Television (APT).

Countdown to Calvary (1×60′) is a documentary shot in 4K slated for Easter 2018 that will explore the last six days of Jesus’s life.

The show is being coproduced by RTÉ, Arte and APT, with Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville presenting. It is described as featuring “all the narrative pace and production values of a political thriller” with CGI and academic insights from leading experts.

APT syndicates programming to more than 360 public television stations in the US and will retain American public broadcasting rights, distributing the doc under the title Jesus – Countdown to Calvary.

Outside the US, RTÉ Programme Sales will distribute, with the show launching internationally at Mipcom in October. Distributor TVCO will create and market a version for Italian-speaking territories.

Arte will broadcast versions in French and German, while further translations will follow in Spanish and Polish and become available via digital platform Arte.tv.

Arte and RTÉ unveiled their coproduction deal in November, after it was first reported by C21 in August last year.

The arrangement is designed to take Irish cultural content to an international audience and will see Arte and RTÉ each contribute a minimum of €250,000 (US$294,000) a year for an initial period of two years.

The investment will be used for the development of coproductions in 2017 and 2018, particularly in the fields of arts, culture, factual, history and natural history.