|
Ecosse Films Begins Production on New Original Drama Series, MEADOWLANDS, for Showtime and Channel 4
Eight Episode Series Begins Production in England for Summer 2007 Premiere
on Showtime
NEW YORK, Oct. 5 -- Showtime Networks Inc. and the UK's
Channel 4 have commissioned Ecosse Films to produce a new original eight-
episode drama series entitled MEADOWLANDS (Cape Wrath in the UK).
Production of the series will begin this month in England and will premiere
in the U.S. on SHOWTIME in the summer of 2007.
Starring British actors David Morrissey ("The Deal," "State of Play,"
"Viva: Blackpool") and Lucy Cohu ("The Queen's Sister," "Becoming Jane"),
MEADOWLANDS focuses on a family trying to escape its past while confronting
an even more uncertain future. The series picks up as Danny (MORRISSEY) and
Evelyn Brogan (COHU) along with their two teenage kids enter a witness
protection program and are moved to a bucolic neighborhood (MEADOWLANDS) to
begin a new life. Picturesque and crime-free, MEADOWLANDS appears to be a
suburban paradise where the Brogan family can begin to start a new life.
But they soon realize that it's not so easy to escape the past and their
safe haven becomes a world of paranoia and psychological intrigue with
surprises around every corner.
"I am pleased to be partnering with Channel 4 on this truly original
series," said Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment, Showtime
Networks Inc. "This show is sexy, mysterious, provocative, and filled with
original characters, all of which dovetail with our premium mandate."
Matthew Alridge, Head of Television Development at Ecosse Films stated,
"With MEADOWLANDS, we wanted to do something genuinely different. To take
the audience to a strange world and tell them a story that was surprising,
unsettling and intriguing."
The series is produced by Ecosse Films and was created by Ecosse's Head
of Television Development Matthew Alridge and writer Robert Murphy. It is
executive produced by Douglas Rae and Alridge and produced by Caroline
Levy. Duane Clark, a prominent American television director ("CSI,"
"Jericho," "Medium") will helm his first UK drama.
MEADOWLANDS joins SHOWTIME'S slate of original, cutting edge
programming including critically-acclaimed and award-winning series such as
DEXTER, starring Michael C. Hall as a serial killer who kills criminals who
may have fallen through the justice system; WEEDS, starring Mary Louise
Parker as a soccer mom who sells pot in the suburbs to make ends meet;
BROTHERHOOD, about two brothers on opposite sides of the law in a
working-class neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island; SLEEPER CELL, an
acclaimed ongoing miniseries about a terrorist cell in Los Angeles; and the
upcoming series THE TUDORS starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as young King
Henry VIII.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS
Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME(R),
THE MOVIE CHANNEL(TM) and FLIX(R), as well as the multiplex channels
SHOWTIME(R) TOO(TM), SHOWTIME(R) SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME(R), SHOWTIME
BEYOND(R), SHOWTIME NEXT(R), SHOWTIME WOMEN(R), SHOWTIME FAMILYZONE(R) and
TMC XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD(TM),
SHOWTIME ON DEMAND(TM) and THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND(TM). SNI is also an
owner and manager of SUNDANCE CHANNEL, a venture of NBC Universal, Robert
Redford and SNI. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture
between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced
sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and
entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis
through SHOWTIME(R) PPV.
SOURCE Showtime Networks Inc.
http://www.SHO.com
|
