Here are a few tidbits about British and Canadian TV shows headed to the US.
Alex Rider (UK-US)
Amazon Freevee has set the premiere date for the third and final season of Alex Rider, the action-filled teen spy thriller series based on the globally best-selling “Alex Rider” series of novels by the prolific Anthony Horowitz (“Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery” and “Magpie Murders” novels). The titular hero is a London-based teenager who, unbeknownst to him, has been trained for the dangerous world of espionage since he was a child.
Adapted from Scorpia, the fifth “Alex Rider” novel, Season 3 sets teenage spy Alex Rider (Otto Farrant, Mrs. Wilson, Marcella, The White Queen) on the tail of his greatest enemy: the elusive criminal network known as Scorpia. Under new leadership, the criminal cabal plan to extort the British Government using their catastrophic new super-weapon, the “Invisible Sword.” Free of The Department and aided by his closest friends, Tom (Brenock O’Connor, Game of Thrones) and Kyra (Marli Siu, Everything I Know About Love), Alex embarks on a personal mission to destroy Scorpia once and for all. Little does he know, though, that his ties to both organizations run deeper than he ever thought possible.
Additional cast members returning for the final season include Vicky McClure (Line of Duty, Trigger Point) as Mrs. Jones, Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones, The Tunnel) as Alan Blunt, and Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ (Rain Dogs, Christopher Robin) as Jack Starbright. Joining the cast this season are Sofia Helin (Atlantic Crossing, The Bridge) as Julia Rothman, Shelley Conn (Gen V, Bridgerton) as Laura Kellner, Kevin McNally (The Crown, Pirates of the Caribbean) as Max Grendel, and Jason Wong (Warrior, The Covenant) as Nile.
Alex Rider: Season 3 premieres Friday, April 5, as an eight-episode binge exclusively on Freevee in the US, UK, and Germany.
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“Alex Rider” novels by Anthony Horowitz
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Blue Lights (UK/NI)
The BBC has renewed the gripping and addictive Belfast-set cop drama Blue Lights for another two seasons, bringing the total to four seasons (24 episodes) to date. The news comes in advance of the UK launch of Season 2 on BBC One and iPlayer this spring (date tba).
In Season 2, Grace (Siân Brooke, Trying, Good Omens), Annie (Katherine Devlin, Vikings, The Dig), and Tommy (Nathan Braniff) are growing up fast as police officers, but nothing can prepare them for the turmoil they face every day. In the year since the fall of the McIntyre crime gang, rival gangs have moved in to fill the void, all competing for dominance. Constable Shane Bradley (Frank Blake, Sanditon) is drafted in to help, but his motivations are unclear. Tommy is dangerously seduced by the world of intelligence policing, while Grace struggles to deal with both her son’s absence and her growing feelings for fellow officer Stevie (Martin McCann, Marcella). And as a young loyalist threatens to take over the city, the officers face a major gangland feud, culminating in a violent and devastating confrontation.
Also reprising their roles for Season 2 are Joanne Crawford (Resistance) as Helen McNally, Andi Osho (Payback) as Sandra Cliff, Hannah McClean (Sick Note) as Jen Robinson, Paddy Jenkins (An Irish Goodbye) as Happy Kelly, Desmond Eastwood (Normal People) as Murray Canning), Jonathan Harden (World on Fire) as Jonty, and Andrea Irvine (Red Rock) as Nicola Robinson.
In addition to Martin McCann, Seamus O’Hara (Game of Thrones) joins the cast as Lee Thompson, as does Seána Kerslake (Smother) as Lee’s sister, Mags.
Season 1 of Blue Lights is currently streaming in North America exclusively on BritBox.
Stay tuned for updates.
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Dead Hot (UK)
The new British comedy-thriller series Dead Hot will premiere in the US and Canada on Tubi (date tba). Starring Bilal Hasna (Extraordinary, 3 Body Problem) and Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane, I May Destroy You), the character-driven series explores family, class, love, trauma, and identity.
Set in present-day Liverpool, twenty-somethings Elliot (Hasna) and Jess (Oparah) are best friends united by a bond of grief at losing Peter — Jess’s twin brother and Elliot’s first and only love — who went missing under mysterious circumstances five years ago. Still reeling from the trauma, the besties spiral into a hedonistic lifestyle, partying to numb their grief while clinging to a small hope that they will one day find out what happened.
When Elliot meets Will (Marcus Hodson, A Gentleman in Moscow), he starts to think he can put the past behind him. But when he learns that Will has his own dark secrets, just as Jess is contacted by somebody claiming to be her brother, it prompts the pair to find out if Elliot is romantically cursed… or being targeted.
Created and written by Charlotte Coben (The Stranger, Stay Close, Shelter, Fool Me Once), and executive produced by Nicola Shindler (Nolly, Scott & Bailey, Happy Valley), the series features Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey, After Life) and Peter Serafinowicz (The Gentlemen, The Tick).
Stay tuned for updates.
Grace (UK)
John Simm (Life on Mars, Doctor Who, The Village, Mad Dogs) will be back as Brighton-based detective DSI Roy Grace, as ITV has renewed the popular mystery-crime drama series Grace for a fifth season. The series is adapted from the “Roy Grace” series of best-selling crime novels by Peter James, with each season’s episodes in the same order as the novel’s publication dates. Season 5 consists of four feature-length episodes based on the novels Need You Dead, Dead If You Don’t, Dead At First Sight, and Find Them Dead. (They follow the Season 4 episodes Dead Man’s Time, Want You Dead, You Are Dead, and Love You Dead.)
Also reprising their roles for Season 5 are Richie Campbell (Top Boy, Stephen, Frankenstein Chronicles) as DS Glenn Branson, Zoë Tapper (Liar, Mr Selfridge) as Cleo Morey, Laura Elphinstone (Dalgliesh, Chernobyl) as DS Bella Moy, Brad Morrison (Outlander, National Theatre Live: Twelfth Night) as DC Nick Nicholl, and Sam Hoare (The Capture, Showtrial) as ACC Cassian Pewe.
Grace, a BritBox Original, is available exclusively on BritBox in North America and Australia (where Seasons 1-3 are currently streaming). Season 5 will air in the UK on ITV1, ITVX, STV, and STV Player.
Stay tuned for updates.
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As an affiliate of Amazon and other cos, affiliate links on this blog allow us to earn income from qualifying actions (at no extra cost to you).
“Roy Grace” novels by Peter James
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Mammals (UK)
Renowned naturalist and three-time Emmy® Award winner Sir David Attenborough (Seven Worlds, One Planet, Blue Planet II) will present the next major natural history series: Mammals. Found on every continent and in every ocean, mammals have evolved to master almost every habitat on our planet — but how?
Twenty years after Life of Mammals, Attenborough revisits this extraordinary group of animals in Mammals. Full of never-before-seen behaviors, the six-part series offers fascinating insights into the most successful animal group in the world. From the tiny Etruscan shrew and the miniature tenrecs of Madagascar, to great apes and the humpback whales of the Indian ocean, Mammals will reveal the secrets of their success and how their winning design, incredible adaptability, unrivaled intelligence, and unique sociability have all contributed to their remarkable rise.
Each episode explores a different environment: dark, cold, heat, water, forest, and “the new wild,” the last of which explores the ingenious ways mammals are adapting to a world dominated by humans, arguably the most successful mammal of all. As well as giving viewers an exciting new perspective on a remarkable group of animals, the series will also highlight many of the problems faced by mammals in today’s rapidly-changing world. By weight, fewer than six percent of today’s mammals are wild animals, and many species face extinction.
Mammals will premiere in the US on BBC America and AMC+ in summer 2024, and in the UK on BBC One and iPlayer (dates tba).
Stay tuned for updates.
Patience
Adapted from the French series Astrid and Raphaelle, Patience is a new mystery-crime drama series starring Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad, The Loch) and Ella Maisy Purvis (A Kind of Spark, Heartstopper) as Detective Bea Metcalf and autistic police archivist Patience Evans, respectively — an unlikely crime-fighting duo whose investigations unfold against the backdrop of the historic city of York.
Patience works in the criminal records department of the Yorkshire Police, cataloguing and filing the evidence produced during major cases. A young, autistic woman, she craves routine and order, and relishes the solitude and structure her job provides. But Patience is also a brilliant, self-taught criminologist who has an instinctive eye for crime scenes and a passion for problem-solving, and Detective Bea Metcalf is the first person to spot Patience’s talent and utilize it to solve criminal cases. This opens a door into a whole new world for Patience, who also attends a regular support group for autistic adults, where they discuss their problems operating in a neuro-typical world and how best to navigate it.
The six-episode series, a project partnership between Eagle Eye Drama, PBS Distribution, and Beta Film, is currently filming, with all neuro-divergent characters played by neuro-diverse actors, including the title role of Patience. It is directed by Maarten Moerkerke (13 Commandments). Matt Baker (Hotel Portofino, Professor T) heads up the writing team; he is joined by Stephen Brady (Professor T), Sarah Freethy (The Porcelain Maker), and Daniella DeVinter (Before We Die), all of whom have personal experience relating to autism.
PBS Distribution holds the North American rights to Patience. The series will launch in the US on PBS, with streaming available on PBS.org, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. Beta Film will distribute the series worldwide.
Stay tuned for updates.
Sight Unseen (CA)
The new crime drama series Sight Unseen is headed to the US. It follows Tess Avery (Dolly Lewis, Dead of Winter), a Vancouver-based woman who loses her vision and, after being diagnosed as clinically blind, has no choice but to leave her job as a homicide detective. Despite this, Tess is still able to help the police solve crimes, owing to her use of a visual assistance app and assistance from Sunny Patel (Agam Darshi, The Flash), Tess’s agoraphobic visual guide in New York City.
Created by Karen Troubetzkoy (Killjoys, Orphan Black) and Nikolijne Troubetzkoy (19-2, Call Me Fitz), the series costars Daniel Gillies (The Originals), along with Jarod Joseph (The 100), Alice Christina-Corrigan (Doctors), and Tony Giroux (Motherland: Fort Salem). It is a co-production of The CW and Canada’s CTV.
Sight Unseen premieres in the US on Wednesday, April 3, at 9pm ET/PT, on The CW.
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