BBC Taps Dragonfly For Commissioner; ITV Buys Aussie Drama & Confirms ‘Big Brother’ Launch Date; Talpa Restructures As Studio — Global Briefs

Jesse Whittock
·2 min read
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BBC Taps Dragonfly For Commissioner

The BBC has hired Tom Pullen from Then Barbara Met Alan producer Dragonfly. Pullen will become a commissioning editor on Clare Sillery’s documentaries team. He was previously Head of Documentaries at Banijay UK-owned Dragonfly and has spent the at Gold Rush producer Raw and was Head of Factual Development at Sex Education maker Eleven. Recently, Pullen was executive producer on Jack Thorne’s BBC and Netflix factual-drama Then Barbara Met Alan, which is about two UK trailblazers whose campaigning led to the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act. He also EPed Sky feature doc Forced Out and lined up true crime series Anni for Discovery+ and worked on major Dragonfly shows such as BBC One‘s Life and Death and Channel 4’s What Makes a Murderer. He starts at UK pubcaster the BBC on November 6.

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ITV Buys Aussie Drama & Confirms ‘Big Brother’ Launch Date

ITV has acquired Australian comedy-drama In Limbo from European distributor Newen Connect for its British streaming service. This marksg the first international sale of the Bunya Productions and Heiress Films title. Starring Ryan Corr (Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon), Bob Morley (Love Me) and Emma Harvie (Frayed), the six-part series explores topics of male suicide and mental health, using humor to shine a light on the issue. Colin From Accounts‘ Trent O’Donnell is among the directors. “We are very pleased to be bringing this brilliant show, which has such an important message, to our users in the UK,” said ITV Head of Content Acquisitions Sasha Breslau. The show launches later this month. In further ITV news, the UK network has confirmed it will launch its reboot of Big Brother on Sunday, October 8 at 9pm. The social experiment format will launch on ITV1, ITV2 and ITVX in a “disruptive multi-channel and streaming takeover” on the night before the remainder broadcasts nightly at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX (apart from Saturdays), followed by studio audience reaction show Big Brother: Late & Live. Banijay UK’s Initial is producing the reboot.

Talpa Restructures As Studio

John de Mol’s European unscripted powerhouse Talpa has restructured as Talpa Studios. The company said the “rebranding signifies more than just a name change” and “represents a holistic shift in its business approach.” This will mean more focus on creating “complete content propositions,” from format creation to production and global distribution. Talpa is behind several recent formats, including The Floor, MarbleMania, Million Dollar Island, The Tribute and Hunting Season. Earlier this month, we revealed Talpa had teamed up with Holey Moley maker Eureka Productions to create a U.S. version of The Quiz with Balls, Talpa’s latest format out of the Netherlands.

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