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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Worldwide Channels has concluded a deal with multi-award winning ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Box Office (HBO) to premiere a collection of critically acclaimed drama and comedy, created by and starring some of the world’s best-loved talent.

The programmes, to debut on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Entertainment and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Knowledge in Africa, bring together a tableau of stories and characters – fictional, comedic and inspired by true life events – all brought to life by celebrated acting greats and writing impresarios.

For ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Entertainment, award-winning actress Dame Maggie Smith leads the cast in Capturing Mary, directed by acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, Stephen Poliakoff. The Affair, stars Courtney B. Vance as an American GI during World War 11 while, series one and two of Emmy-award winning mini-series Rome chronicle the fall of the Republic and birth of an empire.

Viewers will also be treated to the stateside antics of David Walliams and Matt Lucas in Little Britain USA.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Knowledge will shed new light on some of the most influential events and personalities from recent history. Albert Finney plays Winston Churchill in the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning biopic The Gathering Storm, while Brendan Gleeson reprises the role in the sequel, Into The Storm.

Conspiracy – which earned star Kenneth Branagh an Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie – recounts the events leading up to The Final Solution in Nazi Germany. Finally, Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA award-nominated Tsunami (2 x 100'), focuses on the harrowing aftermath of the natural disaster that devastated the Andaman coast of Thailand in December 2004.

Bun Scrase-Dickins, VP Acquisitions, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Worldwide Channels said of the deal: "We are constantly on the lookout for the best quality content for our international audience. HBO has a terrific reputation for producing cutting-edge television drama and this is a great set of programmes which we're delighted to bring to our viewers in Africa."

The deal was brokered by Melanie Owen, Acquisitions Manager, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Worldwide Channels.

More information on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Worldwide is available at MIPCOM stand #G3.40.

NOTES TO EDITORS
Further Programming Information

Capturing Mary (1 x 104’) opens as an elderly lady, Mary, knocks unannounced on the door of a grand old house in central London. Coaxed across the threshold by its teenage concierge, Joe, she enters and hesitantly relives her past. Capturing Mary stars some of Britain's most talented actors, including Dame Maggie Smith as the older Mary, Ruth Wilson (Jane Eyre) as her younger incarnation, David Walliams (Little Britain), and newcomer Danny Lee Wynter. The two-hour film is has been licensed to air on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Entertainment in 2011.

The Affair (1 x 104’) tells the tale of a black American soldier stationed in England during World War II who begins a secret love affair with a married, white British woman. When their affair is discovered, the GI finds himself confronting a fate as terrible as the deadliest combat. The film airs on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Entertainment in 2011.
Series one and two of Emmy award-winning drama Rome (12 x 55’, 10 x 55’) chronicle the events surrounding the fall of the Republic and the birth of an empire. Spanning over a dozen years, political and personal factions find themselves in an elaborate power play in and around the world's wealthiest and most powerful city. The series airs on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Entertainment in 2011.

Set in contemporary America, Little Britain USA (6 x 30’) features familiar characters from the irreverent ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ comedy series, as well as brand-new ones, including Bing Gordyn, the eighth astronaut to go to the moon; Phyllis, who is powerless to ignore suggestions from the manipulative and dangerous Mr. Doggy, her King Charles Spaniel, and Mark and Tom, hyper-masculine gym buddies who will do anything for each other. The series airs on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Entertainment from January 2011.

Conspiracy (1 x 95’) recreates one of the most infamous gatherings in world history – the meeting at Wannsee, outside Berlin on 20th January 1942, when the administrative plans of The Final Solution were set in motion. Starring Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth, Conspiracy airs on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Knowledge in 201l.
Golden Globe, Emmy and Peabody award-winner The Gathering Storm (1 x 120’) and its sequel Into The Storm (1 x 95’) offer an intimate portrait of British wartime leader Winston Churchill, who went to daring lengths to warn the British people of the Nazi threat, at a time when the country wanted nothing more than peace.

The Gathering Storm follows his extraordinary return from the brink of political obscurity and the personal price he paid in his marriage and private life before he could re-emerge as a leader and a hero. Revisiting the leader’s story Into The Storm explores how the traits that made Winston Churchill a great leader during World War II ultimately caused him to be voted out of power within weeks of the war's end.
Both titles will air on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Knowledge in 2011.

Inspired by real-life events, Tsunami (2 x 100’) focuses on the harrowing aftermath of the tsunami that devastated the Andaman coast of Thailand in December 2004. A tale of personal loss, the two-part miniseries follows a group of fictional characters whose lives are irrevocably transformed by the cataclysmic disaster. The programme debuts on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Knowledge from December 2010.

Harriet Otoo