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BBC Sport Dedicates Week of Programming to International Women’s Day – Global Bulletin

Jamie Lang
·3 min read

In today’s Global Bulletin, BBC Sport plans a week of content dedicated to International Women’s Day, NENT Studios U.K. closes several deals for “Manhunt II: The Night Stalker,” Discovery orders more “Faking It” in the U.K., and “Weakest Link” gets an new Australian adaptation.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

BBC Sport will dedicate the week of March 8 to broadcasting content promoting International Women’s Day, March 11.

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Kicking off the coverage, Serena Williams will feature in a specially recorded video reciting Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If.” Later in the day, results will be shared from the BBC Sport’s Global Prize Money Study, which examines the difference in prize money awarded between men and women’s sports.

Key interviews broadcasting during the week include British Olympic cyclist Elinor Barker MBE and New Zealand track cyclist Kirstie James; teenage swimmer Ellie Challis, who lost her limbs to Meningitis at 18 months old; Muay Thai World champion and professional boxer Ruqsana Begum; team GB’s first ever female chef de mission and Olympic bronze medalist Georgie Harland; and West Ham women’s sports psychologist and U.K. Sport’s coach developer Jenna Coady.

The week will cap off with a round table featuring several of Britain’s top Black athletes, discussing ways in which race and gender representation in sport has changed over the past two decades. Joining the conversation will be Olympian Donna Fraser, Paralympian Kadeena Cox and Team GB sprinter Imani-Lara Lasiquot.

SERIES

NENT Studios U.K. has secured international rights to ITV’s recently commissioned “Manhunt II: The Night Stalker,” starring Martin Clunes, and finalized several early pre-sales deals for the series.

NENT has also secured co-production funding for the second season with AMC Networks’ Acorn TV for North and South America, and Seven Network in Australia. Pre-sales have been confirmed to DR TV in Denmark, VRT in Belgium, SVT in Sweden, Filmin in Spain, NRK in Norway and NOS in the Netherlands.

“Manhunt II: The Night Stalker” is produced by Buffalo Pictures and written by executive producer Ed Whitmore (“Silent Witness”).

FACTUAL

Having found a winning formula with “Faking It: Jimmy Savile,” Discovery U.K. will partner once again with producers Shearwater Media on “Faking It: Tears of a Crime,” as well as three specials focused on Michael Jackson, U.S. family killer Chris Watts and serial killer Ted Bundy, and a new Savile-themed one-off.

Premiering from April, the three, hour-long programs will employ experts in body language, linguistics and forensic psychology to breakdown footage and interviews of Jackson, Watts and Bundy, focusing on minute details in their behavior and speech.

“Faking It: Tears of a Crime” will offer a detailed account of several of the world’s highest-profile crimes and the criminals who perpetrated them across six episodes. Finally, returning to the Savile well, Shearwater is producing “Jimmy Savile: Hiding in Plain Sight,” a two-hour special for Discovery Plus focused on how such a public figured was able to act with impunity for so many years.

UNSCRIPTED

Channel Nine in Australia has commissioned a local version of the classic TV game show “Weakest Link” from BBC Studios Australian and New Zealand. The format will be produced by BBC Studios’ local production wing, sticking to the formula that saw the original gain worldwide popularity at the turn of the century.

Local version of “Weakest Link” have now been produced in 46 territories with more than 1,500 episodes having broadcast in the U.K. alone. A second season was recently commissioned by NBC in the U.S., hosted by Jane Lynch (“Glee”).

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