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This City Is Ours is a crime drama epic filmed in Liverpool and Spain that comes with creative pedigree. The series stars Sean Bean and comes from The Crown producer Left Bank Pictures. All episodes will become available on the BBC iPlayer streaming service from 6 a.m. London time Sunday, with the series beginning to air on BBC One in its weekly 9 p.m. time slot that night. Sony Pictures Television is distributing the series internationally.

The eight-part show was created and written by Stephen Butchard (The Good Mothers, The Last Kingdom, Five Daughters) and directed by Saul Dibb (The Salisbury Poisonings, The Sixth Commandment) and John Hayes (Nightsleeper, Dublin Murders).

Bean (Marriage, Time) plays crime gang leader Ronnie Phelan, with James Nelson-Joyce (Bird, A Thousand Blows) portraying Ronnie’s friend Michael Kavanagh. Hannah Onslow (Empire of Light, This Is Going to Hurt) plays Diana Williams, Michael’s partner, while Jack McMullen (Hijack,...

The London TV Screenings, or London Screenings for short, the global TV industry event running Feb. 23-28, is ready for its close-up. The once low-key affair, where networks and sales outfits screen their latest shows for international buyers, has grown to can’t-miss status over the years. 2025 will be London Screenings’ time to shine, particularly without any competition from the now-defunct Mip TV.

That said, Mip will be holding its own inaugural Mip London event during the week, featuring panel discussions on industry trends, hot new properties from the likes of South Korea and Japan, as well as a session with David Beckham and Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria.

The London Screenings come at an inflection point for the global TV industry. After a sustained boom in high-end drama, networks, and streamers are again cutting costs and betting more on lower-cost non-fiction and reality shows. In the fiction arena,...

The BBC has revealed the first official images from This City Is Ours, an ambitious new crime drama set in Liverpool, with Sean Bean taking centre stage as gang leader Ronnie Phelan. Created by Stephen Butchard, the writer behind The Last Kingdom and The Good Mothers, and directed by BAFTA-winner Saul Dibb, the eight-part series promises an intense exploration of loyalty, love, and betrayal within a world of organised crime.

Filmed on location in Liverpool and Spain, the series follows Michael Kavanagh, played by James Nelson-Joyce, a lifelong criminal whose devotion to the underworld starts to unravel when he falls in love. After years of working under Ronnie Phelan’s leadership, Michael begins to contemplate leaving the business behind, dreaming of a future with Diana Williams, played by Hannah Onslow. But with tensions brewing within the gang and Ronnie hinting at retirement, Michael soon finds himself battling for survival.

The...

Happy Friday, Insiders. Jesse Whittock back in a week where the box office proved beyond all doubt that it is alive and kicking. All the big film and TV news from the international sphere follows. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Bouncy Box Office

From left: ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’

‘Moana’ to ‘Glicked’: It’s been a robust few weeks at the international box office largely thanks to the customary end-of-year studio fare, which has pulled audiences out of the winter cold and back into those uncomfortable multiplex seats. Defying gravity, Universal’s Wicked debuted at $164.2M, the biggest opening weekend for a Broadway adaption. The split on the Jon M. Chu-directed flick was $114M domestic and $50.2M from the international box office. The bumper number also places Wicked as the highest-grossing opening Friday flick in Imax for a PG film. Also pulling weight on international...

Exclusive: Liam Keelan is exiting his role as Disney’s SVP of Original Content, Emea, we can reveal.

The veteran British exec has been with Disney for nearly five years, but has decided to leave in early 2025. News of the departure was transmitted internally moments ago.

A recruitment process for a replacement is set to begin, and will no doubt attract big players from the international community, given the scope of the role.

Keelan built the Europe and Africa programming team from scratch as Disney+ went international, and has seen the group produce 70 originals under his leadership. His UK-based exec team includes scripted chief Lee Mason, unscripted head Sean Doyle for unscripted content and production management head Amanda Wilkie-Sweeney, and he also oversees local commissioners across the Emea region.

Earlier this year, his team unveiled a series of projects out of Spain and France, news that followed Keelan last year...

Turns out, even Middle-earth has its struggles! One of the most iconic lines from The Lord of the Rings wasn’t just tough to deliver—it was a real memory nightmare for Sean Bean. Yep, even Boromir himself had a hard time keeping track of those epic lines. The best part? He found a hilariously sneaky solution that fooled everyone on set.

Sean Bean in Patriot Games | Paramount Pictures

Instead of mastering the script, Bean came up with a clever trick to keep things rolling without anyone noticing. Curious how he pulled it off? Let’s just say, next time you watch that legendary scene, you might spot his sneaky strategy in action. Spoiler: You’ll never look at it the same way again!

Sean Bean’s Sneaky Trick: How Boromir Delivered the Iconic ‘Mordor’ Line with a Script on His Knee Sean Bean As Ned Stark in Game of Thrones...

The Italian government will this week announce major changes to its film and TV tax credit system aimed at boosting local productions and producers and ensuring more Italian stories get told on screen. The changes come after a year of uncertainty that has left many productions in limbo.

Under the new rules, international co-productions will face an €18 million ($19.7 million) cap on tax credit payouts for projects where at least 30 percent of the production is made in Italy. Local productions will be capped at €9 million ($10 million). The overall fund for film and audiovisual investments in 2024 remains unchanged at approximately €700 million ($782 million).

The change is designed to boost Italian TV and movies and encourage visiting international productions to focus more on Italian stories, like Michael Mann’s Ferrari, about the life of the legendary car designer, starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival, or...

Italy’s tax credit, increasing the number of international co-productions and the challenges facing the Iocal film industry were among the key talking points at the third Audiovisual Producers Summit which took place this week in Calabria in southern Italy.

The event, organised by Italy’s Audiovisual Producers Association (APA), brought together around 200 execs from the Italian, US, French and UK film and TV industries.

They included Amazon Studios head of Italian scripted originals Davide Nardini, new Wildside CEO Sonia Rovai, Sony Pictures Television president of international Wayne Garvie, Banijay chief digital officer Damien Viel, Franklin Entertainment’s DeVon Franklin,...

Sean Bean is to star as a gang leader in Stephen Butchard’s epic Liverpool-set crime series This City is Ours [working title] from The Crown producer Left Bank.

The two-time BAFTA winning Game of Thrones alum will play Ronnie Phelan in the series, which will also feature James Nelson-Joyce as Ronnie’s friend, Michael Kavanagh, Hannah Onslow as Diana Williams, Michael’s partner, and Jack McMullen as Ronnie’s son, Jamie Phelan. Also joining the cast are Laura Aikman as Rachel Duffy, Kevin Harvey as Bobby Duffy, Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Cheryl Crawford, Mike Noble as Banksey, Bobby Schofield as Bonehead, Darci Shaw (Judy, A Thousand Blows) as Melissa Phelan, and Stephen Walters as Davy Crawford.

Disney’s U.K. commissioning subsidiary Walt Disney Emea Productions Limited has reported more than a 50% drop in revenue from the previous financial year.

The U.K.-based company, which commissions international productions and co-productions for Disney’s linear networks as well as streaming platform Disney+, reported revenues of £86 million ($110 million) for the year ending in Sept 2023, according to the latest financial report filed at U.K. business registrar Companies House last week.

The figure marks a drop from the previous year’s reported revenue of £215 million ($270 million), which covered the year ending Oct. 2022 and marked an all-time high for the subsidiary. In the year ending Oct. 2021 – which was the first financial reporting year following the launch of Disney+ in the U.K. — the company reported revenues of £43 million.

According to the accompanying financial report, the subsidiary’s directors are “in the process of considering the company’s future” although...

A mysterious murder in a monastery starring Arthur Hughes and Anthony Boyle (Masters of the Air)? Where do we sign up? The two actors headline Shardlake, which hits Hulu on May 1. Based on the popular Tudor murder mystery novels by C.J. Sansom, the four-part outing promises to have all the thrills fans of rousing and suspenseful historical dramas love, plus plenty of deceit and intrigue.

Set in 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries in the Tudor era, the limited series tracks lawyer Matthew Shardlake (Hughes), who is sent by Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean of Game of Thrones) on behalf of Henry VIII to investigate the death of a commissioner in a remote town of Scarnsea. He must bring along an unlikely partner, however Jack Barak, whos cocky, self-assured, and perhaps Cromwells spy.

Shardlake boasts strong loyalty to the Crown, but hes frowned upon because of his appearance...

Revenues and profits at European production group Fremantle, whose labels are behind films such as Oscar winner Poor Things and Italian box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow, fell in 2023.

Revenue was down by 3.5% to €2.27bn while adjusted Ebita declined 14.2% to €139m.

The figures were published this morning (March 14) as Fremantle parent company Rtl Group announced its annual results for 2023.

Fremantle’s revenue fall comes as it seeks to hit a well-publicised target of €3bn in revenues by 2025/26.

Rtl Group said Fremantle’s 2023 fall in revenue was “mainly due to timing effects and negative foreign exchange rate effects”.

Rtl reiterated its...

Revenues and profits at European production group Fremantle, whose labels are behind films such as Oscar winner Poor Things and Italian box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow, fell in 2023.

Revenue was down by 3.5% to €2.27bn while adjusted Ebita declined 14.2% to €139m.

The figures were published this morning (March 14) as Fremantle parent company Rtl Group announced its annual results for 2023.

Fremantle’s revenue fall comes as it seeks to hit a well-publicised target of €3bn in revenues by 2025/26.

Rtl Group said Fremantle’s 2023 fall in revenue was “mainly due to timing effects and negative foreign exchange rate effects”.

Rtl reiterated its...

Revenues and profits fell at Poor Things super-indie Fremantle last year as the outfit’s lofty €3B ($3.2B) revenue target draws ever nearer.

In a difficult market, Fremantle’s turnover fell slightly by 3.5% to €2.26B, while adjusted Ebita was down by the sharper 14.2% to €139M.

Fremantle’s €3B revenue target set for 2025/26 has been well publicized and the company now has just a year to achieve the goal.

After the results period unveiled today, Fremantle spent more than €200M ($216M) on Death in Paradise group Asacha Media Group and 80% of Singapore’s Beach House Pictures. This followed a quiet 2023 for acquisitions.

Fremantle owner Rtl said today that it still aims to achieve the €3B target and will continue to invest across “entertainment, drama and film, and documentaries – both organically and via acquisitions.”

It added that Fremantle’s Adjusted Ebita margin is expected to increase to 9% by 2026.

The super-indie had a...

Fremantle has appointed new bosses for its Italian production subsidiaries The Apartment and Wildside but will continue to work with outgoing CEOs Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani.

Fremantle on Thursday announced that Annamaria Morelli will be taking over as CEO of The Apartment and Sonia Rovai as CEO of Wildside. Fremantle said both companies will continue to have editorial autonomy while coordinating with Fremantle on an organizational basis, and will continue to work with the same talents, Italian and international, going forward.

“Annamaria Morelli and Sonia Rovai have vision, experience and passion. I am so happy to welcome them to The Apartment and Wildside, two labels that have attracted some of the best talent, both Italian and international,” said Andrea Scrosati, group COO and CEO, continental Europe at Fremantle. “We are and will continue to be the place creatives want to call home. A place where you can express your...

Disney+ Emea General Manager Luke Bradley-Jones is exiting to become President of The Economist.

Bradley-Jones will take up the President and Managing Director role at the 180-year-old publication over the summer. A recruitment process to find his replacement will begin shortly.

Bradley-Jones was responsible for the roll-out of Disney+ across the crucial Emea region, along with looking after strategy, operations, and commercial performance of Disney’s Dtc business. He has overseen big subscriber growth alongside local originals such as the upcoming Renegade Nell, The Good Mothers and Oussekine. Prior to Disney, he spent eight years at Sky including as Chief Marketing Officer.

Jan Koeppen, President of Disney Emea, said Bradley-Jones had been at the helm during a period of rapid growth.

“And, while it’s hard to lose such a highly valued team member, he’s going to a great job at The Economist, a company that he’s incredibly passionate about,...

Last Feb. 14, actress Valentina Bellè walked the red carpet at the Critics Choice Awards for The Good Mothers, the Disney+ series directed by Julian Jarrold and Elisa Amoruso that was nominated for best foreign series after bowing last year in Berlin, where it won the fest’s first Berlinale Series Award. And it is to Berlin that the 31-year-old Bellè will return this year, chosen as the Italian face of European Shooting Stars, an annual award given to up-and-coming talent.

“I am extremely honored,” Bellè says. “I can’t wait to meet my wonderful colleagues from all over Europe, all these incredible talents. And I can’t wait to be in Berlin to exchange ideas and experiences. And to find out where it all started for them.”

Her beginning took place on the stage of her elementary school’s theater. “A confined space in which to abandon the idea of yourself for a while,...

Exclusive: Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell do not court publicity and when the duo welcome Deadline to their London office in early February, it is the first interview they have given about House Productions since they set up the film and TV outfit nearly seven years ago.

The Zone of Interest and The Iron Claw are in UK movie theaters when we speak, serving as a timely reminder of the company’s film credits, which have been built brick by brick. A second season of James Graham’s drama series Sherwood will drop in coming months on the BBC and the House principals are fresh back from L.A. as they line up U.S. partners for new projects.

Drama in the works include a series about the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, a TV adaptation of the musical Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder, and an early-stage project with Ncuti Gatwa.

Prominent Italian producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli are exiting their Fremantle-owned companies — Wildside and The Apartment, respectively — in an industry shakeup expected to lead them to jointly form a new independent scripted content outfit.

Gianani and Mieli co-founded Wildside in 2009 and turned it into the powerhouse behind major global dramas such as Rai/HBO’s “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” to name a few. Wildside was aquired by Fremantle in 2015.

Mieli subsequently went his own way and set up The Apartment in 2020 under the Fremantle umbrella. Recent The Apartment titles include Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and Pablo Larrain’s upcoming Angelina-starrer “Maria” about iconic soprano Maria Callas, amid a rich international slate.

A Fremantle Italy spokesperson confirmed the ongoing exits of the two top producers, adding that the separations are not acrimonious and that Fremantle is discussing “the ways in which we will will continue to work together.

Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani are exiting their Fremantle-owned Italian production companies.

The pair are among Italy’s most well known TV and film producers, but their exits have been confirmed, with their next moves not yet official. They may team together to launch their own indie together, reports say.

A Fremantle spokesperson said the super-indie would look to work with Mieli and Gianani “in a different structure” in the future.

The Hollywood Reporter Italy, which revealed the news towards the end of 2023, reported the pair are planning their own production company, but neither could be contacted for comment before press time.

Fremantle confirmed it remains the 100% owner of both indies and new leadership to be announced in due course.

Gianani’s Wildside makes features such as There’s Still Tomorrow and Finally Dawn and TV shows including Disney+ original The Good Mothers, while Mieli’s company, The Apartment, made...

Two of Italy’s top producers – The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani – are leaving their Fremantle-owned companies.

Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.

A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”

Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.

Two of Italy’s top producers – The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani – are leaving their Fremantle-backed companies.

Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.

A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”

Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.

It’s a story — the attempted genocide of Europe’s Jews by the Nazis and their willing executioners — that has been told many times before. But, say the creators of the new German TV drama The Interpreter of Silence, it’s a story that needs to be told again and again.

The five-part limited series, which bowed on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ worldwide Nov. 15, is up for this year’s Critics Choice Awards in the best foreign-language TV series category. The period drama will go up against the South Korean series Bargain, The Glory, Mask Girl and Moving, the French crime series Lupin, and the Italian mafia drama The Good Mothers.

Set in Frankfurt in 1963, The Interpreter of Silence follows the events of Eva Bruhns, a 24-year-old German woman, played by Katharina Stark, who gets a job as a Polish-to-German interpreter in the Auschwitz trials, the...

It all started about a year ago. The Good Mothers, the Anglo-Italian series based on the eponymous book by journalist Alex Perry, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, winning the inaugural, and thanks to budget cuts one and only, prize for best new series at the festival’s TV sidebar, the Berlinale Series.

Roughly twelve months later, the show, produced by House Productions and Fremantle-owned Wildside, which is currently airing on Hulu, and on Disney+ outside the U.S., is in the running for this year’s Critics Choice Awards in the Best Foreign Language TV Series category. The Good Mothers will go up against South Korean series Bargain, The Glory, Mask Girl and Moving, the German period drama The Interpreter of Silence, and the hit French crime series Lupin.

Based on true events, The Good Mothers was adapted for television by Stephen Butchard (Baghdad Central) and directed by...

We’re once again proud to be a partner in the European Film Promotion’s celebration of the very best of European talent with the announcement of the 2024 Efp European Shooting Stars.

It has been a pleasure to highlight and get to know some of the brightest new stars in the sky. As before, we will look to catch up with the entire cohort to get to know them better at the 74th Berlinale next year, so check back for those interviews.

Until then, here’s a closer look at the ten Shooting Stars for 2024.

© Wil Coban Éanna Hardwicke / Ireland

Éanna Hardwicke’s first professional credit was as a child actor in Conor McPherson’s 2009 horror film The Eclipse. Before graduating from The Lír Academy in 2018 he was cast in Vivarium, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week 2019. In 2023, a busy year for Hardwicke, he was named a Screen International Rising...

European Film Promotion has announced the 10 up-and-coming European acting talents for its 2024 European Shooting Stars list.

The actors, which include performers from this year’s award-season contenders Poor Things, Ferrari, and The Peasants, among others, will be lauded at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, next year.

The Shooting Stars class of 2024 includes:

Suzy Bemba (France) Suzy Bemba in ‘Homecoming’

French actress Suzy Bemba, who plays a Parisian sex worker who befriends Emma Stone’s character in Poor Things, and whose credits include standout roles in Anthony Chen’s Sundance film Drift and Catherine Corsini’s Homecoming.

Valentina Bellè (Italy) Valentina Bellè in ‘The Good Mothers’

Valentina Bellè from Italy, who plays Cecilia Manzini in Michael Mann’s Ferarri, won Italy’s Nastro D’Argento award for best supporting actress for her turn in Disney+ mafia drama The Good Mothers and has appeared in Disney+ series Genius: Picasso with...

The value of international investment in film and TV co-productions was €103m for the 2020-2022 period,

International co-productions are playing an increasingly important role in the Italian film and TV industry, according to research published by the country’s film and audiovisual body Anica and producers’ association the APA.

The research shows that there has been a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers when comparing the three-year periods 2017-2019 and 2020-2022.

Italy is also co-producing with more countries: 25 per year in the 2020-2022 period, against 16 in 2017-2022.

France is the country with which...

Research shows a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers.

International co-productions are playing an increasingly important role in the Italian film and TV industry, according to research published by the country’s film and audiovisual body Anica and producers’ association the APA.

The research shows that there has been a 51% increase in the number of films and TV series made with international producers when comparing the three-year periods 2017-2019 and 2020-2022.

Italy is also co-producing with more countries: 25 per year in the 2020-2022 period, against 16 in 2017-2022.

France is the country with which...

The Critics Choice Association announced the TV nominees for the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards on Tuesday — and Season 3 of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show leads the pack with a whopping six nominations.

The haul includes a nod for Best Drama Series and individual recognition for Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Karen Pittman and Season 3 newcomer Nicole Beharie.

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Former Disney+ executive Johanna Devereaux is joining AppleTV+’s development team in Europe led by creative director Jay Hunt, known for greenlighting series including “Slow Horses,” “Hijack” and “Bad Sisters.”

Devereaux, who will be based in London, most recently served as vice president of scripted content and diversity, equity and inclusion strategy for Disney+’s Europe, Middle East and Africa division.

She has been a driving force behind the launch of 34 originals on the streamer, with more than 40 further titles greenlit, including “Wedding Season,” “Extraordinary,” “Culprits,” “Playdate,” “Renegade Nell,” and “The Good Mothers.”

Before joining the Disney+ Emea team, Devereaux served as ABC Studios International’s director of development, where she established the studio’s first scripted strategy outside of North America and built a slate across the Emea and Asia-Pacific regions, spearheading series including “Harrow” and “The Gloaming.” Prior to Disney, she worked in intellectual property at Curtis Brown...

Disney+ UK scripted exec Johanna Devereaux has swapped the Mouse House for Apple TV+.

Devereaux, who was VP of Scripted Content and DE&I Strategy and has been a driving force behind Disney+’s scripted content outside the U.S., will join Apple TV+ Europe boss Jay Hunt’s scripted development team.

She will work in a drama team that has greenlit hits such as Slow Horses, Hijack and Bad Sisters.

At Disney, she had a hand in the launch of 34 originals including the likes of Extraordinary, Wedding Season and The Good Mothers. She worked in Liam Keelan’s team and closely with fellow scripted exec Lee Mason, the former It’s a Sin commissioner, while also overseeing the streamer’s Emea inclusion policy.

Going forwards, Mason will lead the team featuring Jonny Richards and Hannah Scott, with Mason assuming all responsibility for projects set to launch from January onwards as...

Mega Merger

The proposed merger between Indian powerhouse Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Sony‘s Indian TV businesses, which has been nearly two years in the making, is likely to be delayed further, Sony said in a filing on Friday. The companies cleared a key regulatory hurdle in August, but there are other matters pending, especially that of leadership. The original plan had foreseen that Zee’s CEO Punit Goenka would be its captain, while Sony would own a 51% controlling stake. However, Goenka was banned from managing any listed company in India following an interim regulatory report that accused him and Zee founder Subhash Chandra of running the company for their own benefit and “siphoning off” money.

Goenka appealed the decision with India’s Securities Appellate Tribunal, who heard his plea on Wednesday but has reserved a verdict for at least a week.

On Friday, Sony said: “Both companies continue to...

The Berlin Film Festival has said it plans to reduce the size of its 2024 program and cull two competition strands as part of a widescale restructure to tackle a serious budgetary hole.

From next year, the festival will screen approximately 200 films, reduced from 287 in 2023. The festival said all sections, excluding the Official Competition, will present fewer films. Elsewhere in the plans announced, the Perspektive Deutsches Kino sidebar, which highlights new German filmmakers, will be disbanded. Moving forward, films by German newcomers will be presented in the existing sections Competition, Encounters, Panorama, Generation, or Forum.

The festival has also cut the Berlinale Series strand as an independent program. The TV-focused strand will instead be folded into the Berlinale Special Gala screenings. Berlinale Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian will now program the strand following the exit of Julia Fidel, who left in May after four years in the post. Fidel had been working...

Exclusive: Berlinale Series Head Julia Fidel is exiting after four years in post.

Fidel has been working with the Berlinale for almost two decades. Under her watch, the Berlinale Series – the Berlin Film Festival’s TV sibling – has grown rapidly.

The Series issued its first Award last year in collaboration with Deadline, has launched a market-skewing Series Market Selects strand, worked with top talent and expanded to showcase content from regions such as Latin America and China.

Shows to have been in competition in recent years include HBO Max’s Lust, Netflix’s The Eddy and Jason Segel’s AMC series Dispatches From Elsewhere, while Frank Doelger’s The Swarm played out of competition earlier this year.

The first Berlinale Series Award, meanwhile, was won by Disney+ Italy’s The Good Mothers, beating off competition from the likes of HBO Max’s Spy/Master and Chinese drama Why Try to Change Me Now.

Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based Rtl Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, slid 9% to €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) for the first quarter of 2023, financial results released on Thursday have revealed.

The group attributes this to “significantly lower TV advertising revenue,” particularly in Germany, and the disposals of Rtl Belgium and Rtl Croatia.

Fremantle’s revenues were down 5.6% to €435 million (Q1/2022: €461 million), mainly due to timing effects of production deliveries, the group said.

The group’s total advertising revenue fell to €700 million (Q1/2022: €829 million), of which €545 million represented TV advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €653 million), €76 million digital advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €83 million) and €39 million radio advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €46 million). Distribution revenue was down by 1.8% to €107 million (Q1/2022: €109 million).

On the positive side, the group’s streaming services Rtl+ and Videoland continued growing, with paying subscribers up 37.1% to 5.9 million and streaming revenue up 15.6% in Q1/2023.

The quarterly results note the successes of Fremantle,...

It is not easy to watch a drama unfold about women being held up using a remote control, such that they must behave the way the system and society expect them to. This is the story of a mafia family commonly known as the ‘Ndrangheta mafia of the Calabria region of Italy, where women are treated quite differently and are not even asked about what they want from life. Directed by Julian Jarrod and Elisa Amoruso and written for the screen by Stephen Butchard, “The Good Mothers” is all about the leading ladies of the family taking a stand on whether they should keep enduring the disrespect or walk away when the chance comes by. Set in the late 2000s in Italy, this show is a Hulu original that was released on March 5, 2023.

Spoilers Ahead

Lea And Denise Meet Carlo

“The Good Mothers” begins with the public prosecutor Anna Colace...

Mafia families of Italy are something many are aware of thanks to the excellent pop culture phenomenon that is “The Godfather” movies by Francis Ford Coppola. It is hard to look away from the way they lead their family and make an example of how a business should be run. Though there is a lot of glorification of the kind of lifestyle the men and women from those families lead, which often makes it look cool and paints it to be something for the younger generation from around the world to aspire to. Not many are aware of the realities associated with the mafias of Italy and how the people live under them. “The Good Mothers,” directed by Julian Jarrod and Elisa Amoruso and written for the screen by Stephen Butchard, is a Hulu original miniseries adapted from the same-titled novel by Alex Perry. The show throws us right into...

How far would you go to stop something you knew was wrong? Would you defy your own family in the name of justice? That’s the choice facing three women in “The Good Mothers,” a new Italian-language series coming to Hulu on Wednesday, April 5. Born into one of the most powerful Mafia families in the world, these women decide they’ll do whatever it takes to bring down the organization from the inside. You can watch with a 30-Day Free Trial of Hulu.

How to Watch 'The Good Mothers' Premiere When: Wednesday, April 5, 2023 Where: Hulu Stream: Watch with a 30-Day Free Trial of Hulu. 30-Day Free Trial$7.99+ / month hulu.com About 'The Good Mothers' Premiere

“The Good Mothers” is a multi-layered narrative that follows the shocking true story of three women who were born into the most deadly and wealthy of the Italian Mafia clans, and how they worked with...

The month of April for Hulu is jam-packed with TV and film goodies, from Adam Sandler’s 1999 comedy “Big Daddy” to Fox’s hit sitcom “New Girl.”

On top of Hulu’s rollout of a new interface, it’s also adding some major film and TV titles to its platform. Some of the highlights that set off the first day of April include “American Psycho,” “Shrek” and its sequel “Shrek 2,” plus the Tim Story-directed “Think Like a Man.”

Anime series will be all the rage on Hulu with the dubbed version of the new popular series “Chainsaw Man” arriving, along with “Spy x Family” and “Black Clover.” If you’re looking for something a little bit more kid-friendly, the family can al enjoy “Despicable Me” and “Despicable 2,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” and “Nanny McPhee.” For the lovers and heartless romantics, “Dear John” and “Date Night...

Hulu’s list of new releases for April 2023 don’t feature many blockbusters, but if we dig a little, I’m sure we can find some gems.

Perhaps the most promising items are on the TV side of things. Tiny Beautiful Things premieres on April 7 and stars Kathryn Hahn as “a floundering writer who becomes a revered advice columnist while her own life is falling apart.” That will be followed by comedy Am I Being Unreasonable? on April 11 and two documentaries: high school football story Algiers, America (April 19) and Tupac Shakur piece Dear Mama (April 22).

The best TV candidate this month, however, is probably Saint X on April 26. This series, told via multiple timelines, “explores and upends the girl-gone-missing genre as it explores how a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth.

One of the most anticipated television releases of April is coming to Hulu on April 7. “Tiny Beautiful Things” stars Kathryn Hahn as troubled writer Clare. Ironically, she becomes a great advice columnist as her life falls apart. Her marriage is in trouble and her teen daughter hates her. Plus, her writing career is going nowhere. Based on the best-selling collection by Cheryl Strayed, the limited series explores the author’s journey toward healing herself and others.

Check out the “Tiny Beautiful Things” trailer:

Also arriving on Hulu in April is the series adaptation of the best-selling novel “Saint X.” The series is based on Alexis Schaitkin’s novel of the same name and follows a woman’s dangerous pursuit of her older sister’s disappearance on an idyllic Caribbean vacation. Through multiple timelines, the series explores all the traumatic ripples the mystery created for countless people. The series will star Alycia Debnam-Carey,...

Even if you’ve signed up for every streaming service out there, it can feel monumental when a title moves from one to another. In April, Netflix mainstay “New Girl” moves to Hulu; still streaming, but not where fans are used to finding it — like rearranging the furniture in your apartment and waking up surprised every day that the couch is over there now.

But what’s important is that “New Girl” lives on, now joining Hulu’s own TV and movie library and originals from Freeform, FX, National Geographic, and more. Later in the month, Leila Gerstein’s “Saint X” — based on the novel by Alexis Schaitkin — premieres with three episodes, recounting the story of a young girl found dead during a family vacation and the sister piecing it together years later. Alycia Debnam-Carey, Josh Bonzie, West Duchovny, Jayden Elijah, Bre Francis, Kenlee Anaya Townsend, Betsy Brandt, and Michael Park star.

The documentary “On the Adamant” has been named the best film of the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin organizers announced on Saturday.

The film from director Nicolas Philibert follows life in a daycare center located on the Seine in Paris for adults with mental disorders. It is the first documentary to win the festival’s top prize since “Fire at Sea” in 2016.

German director Christian Petzold won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, essentially the runner-up award, for his drama “Afire,” while Philippe Garrel won the directing award for “The Plough.” The gender-neutral acting prizes went to Sofia Otero for “20,000 Species of Bees” in the leading performance category and Thea Ehre for “Till the End of the Night” in the supporting category.

The jury president was actress Kristen Stewart. The other jurors were actress Goldshifteh Farahani, directors Valeska Grisebach, Radu Jude and Carla Simón and Johnnie To and casting director Francine Maisler.

Good afternoon Insider team, Max Goldbart here. It has been a wild ride of a week with Berlin drawing to a close. Read below for a good ol’ recap.

A Year At War

Commemorating: A year is a long time in anyone’s calendar but, for the people of Ukraine, the 12 months that have followed that dreadful day on February 24, 2022, must have felt like a lifetime. Commemorative programs dominated the schedules yesterday and today as the global community marks the anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion by highlighting the plight of an embattled nation, and considering what’s to come. In the U.S., our political correspondent Ted Johnson had this handy rundown of all the major coverage from the news networks, which was preceded by Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine. “I’m here to show our unwavering support for the nation’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,...

The restructures, layoffs, cancellations and a maybe-strike currently impacting the U.S. TV industry rippled through the halls of the Berlinale Series Market this week as senior execs forecasted an international future.

Mass redundancies at the likes of Disney, AMC, Paramount and Netflix in recent months and major strategic rethinks from the studios and streamers were the talk of the market. Among the chatter was a sense this may lead to a wave of non-u.S. activity.

Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak didn’t mince his words when he described U.S. TV as a “disaster zone” Monday. Hasak, who is currently making shows in Scandinavia and the Middle East, was heavily critical of Disney in particular for a strategy that he deemed akin to a “mental breakdown.”

And he wasn’t the only big name pointing to U.S. strife — albeit the others perhaps less forcefully.

‘The Good Mothers’

Danna Stern,...

Berlinale Series Award is the time an A-festival has established a prize specifically for a series.

Disney+ drama The Good Mothers, about women who defy the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, has won the first ever Berlinale Series Award.

The Italian language series is produced through the UK’s House Productions and Italy’s Wildside, a Fremantle company, and launches on Disney+ on April 5.

It follows the true story of three women who were born into ‘Ndrangheta mafia clan and how they worked with a female prosecutor to bring it down from the inside.

Based on the book by Alex Perry and adapted by Stephen Butchard,...

Berlinale Series Award is the time an A-festival has established a prize specifically for a series.

Disney+ drama The Good Mothers, about women who defy the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, has won the first ever Berlinale Series Award.

The Italian language series is produced through the UK’s House Productions and Italy’s Wildside, and launches on Disney+ on April 5.

It follows the true story of three women who were born into ‘Ndrangheta mafia clan and how they worked with a female prosecutor to bring it down from the inside.

Based on the book by Alex Perry and adapted by Stephen Butchard,...

Italian Disney+ drama The Good Mothers has won the inaugural Berlinale Series award for best TV drama at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. The U.K.-Italy co-production tells the true story of three women inside the notorious Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate who worked with a female prosecutor to bring down its empire.

Produced by House Productions in the U.K. and Italy’s Wildside, a Fremantle company, The Good Mothers is based on the eponymous novel by Alex Perry. Stephen Butchard adapted the book, and Julian Jarrold (Kinky Boots, Brideshead Revisited) and Elisa Amoroso (Fidelity) directed.

The first two episodes of the six-part series screened at the Berlinale as part of the festival’s sidebar for high-end TV drama.

The first-ever Berlinale Series Award Jury trio of former Yes Studios boss Danna Stern, Moonlight and The Eddy star André Holland, and Danish screenwriter Mette Heeno, said Good Mothers “captured...

A buzz title at Berlinale Series and one of Disney+’s early big plays in Southern Europe, U.K.-Italian mafia series “The Good Mothers” walked off on Wednesday night with the Berlin Festival’s inaugural Berlinale Series Award.

A large virtue of the series is to come in at the mafia from a novel angle: a real story of women who dare to defy the Italian mob.

The title forms part of the first European slate by new Disney+ international streaming service Star. It tells how bosses at the the Calabrian mob were targeted by a female prosecutor, Alessandra Cerreti, thanks to the collaboration of three women inside the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime clan.

“The Good Mothers” brings large production pedigree to the table both from the U.K. and Italy, being produced by Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross and Harriet Spencer for London’s House Productions, which originated the project,...

The Good Mothers, Disney+’s hard-hitting mafia drama series, has won the first ever Berlinale Series Award.

Forged in co-operation with Deadline, the award is the first of its kind for TV at a major film festival.

Revealed as winner at the Berlin Zoo Palast in the past few minutes, the Italian drama from Baghdad Central scribe Stephen Butchard tells the true story of how three courageous women inside the notorious Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta mafia worked with female prosecutor, Alessandra Cerreti, to bring down down a criminal empire. The Good Mothers is directed by Julian Jarrold and Elisa Amoruso and stars Gaia Girace, Valentina Bellè, Barbara Chichiarelli, Simona Distefano and Micaela Ramazzotti. Producers are House Productions and Wildside. It streams on Disney+ from April 5.

Related: 2023 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming

The Berlinale Series Award Jury, comprised of former Yes Studios boss Danna Stern, Moonlight star André Holland...