BBC Boards French ‘Missions’ to Mars
The BBC is getting into international sci-fi, picking up French drama series “Missions” for its BBC Four channel.
The 10-part series is set in the near future and follows a manned mission to the red planet. The mission is funded by an eccentric Swiss billionaire, William Meyer (Mathias Mlekuz), who is part of the French and European crew alongside married astronaut couple (played by Giorgia Sinicorni and Christophe Vandevelde) and ship’s psychiatrist Jeanne Renoir (Hélène Viviès).
The French team are about to land on Mars when they find that a rival U.S. mission has overtaken them and looks destined to be the first to land on the planet. The American crew then issues a distress signal, and the French team must stage a rescue attempt. Events take a further mysterious turn when they ultimately land on Mars.
“Set against a stunning backdrop of outer space, ‘Missions’ is very much a human story about a team of remarkable people brought together on the adventure of a lifetime,” said Sue Deeks, BBC head of program acquisition. “When things don’t go to plan, a truly original and suspenseful story unfolds.”
The half-hour series is produced by Julien Lacombe and Empreinte Digitale. It won the Critics Jury Award at the MipDrama Screenings at MipTV earlier this year and the Discovery accolade at Series Mania. A second season of “Missions” has been greenlit and enters production in 2018.
In France it airs on the pay-TV service Orange Cinema Series. AMC-owned streaming service Shudder has already licensed it in several territories and is a co-production partner on the second season.
AB International distributes “Missions” and struck the BBC deal, which will see the show bow in the U.K. in 2018. “We are thrilled about the upcoming broadcast of ‘Missions’ on BBC 4, and that the network has chosen this bold and unique sci-fi series,” said Valerie Vleeschhouwer, head of distribution and co-production at AB International.
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