BBC2 wildlife series bought by broadcasters in Finland, France, Germany, Spain and China
Big Cats 24/7 sells internationally
BBC Studios has made its first global sales for BBC2 series Big Cats 24/7, co-produced by the BBCS Natural History Unit (NHU) and PBS. In China, the six-part series has sold to bilibili, iQiyi, Tencent, Youku and linear channel CCTV World Geography. It has also been bought by YLE (Finland), France Televisions (France), Sky Deutschland (Germany) and Movistar Plus+ (Spain). The series, which follows the lives of lions, cheetahs and leopards in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, will also be available on the BBC Earth channel in Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Romania, Malta, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
European broadcasters snap up 7 October docs
French broadcaster Histoire TV, Cypriot channel ANT1, Austrian PSB ORF and Canadian broadcast station The News Forum have acquired documentaries from Jerusalem-based distributor Go2 Films focusing on the events of last year’s 7 October massacre – a year on from the tragedy. TF1-owned Histoire and ANT1 have picked up 06:30, while ORF and The News Forum have bought The Last Recordings. Directed by Alon Daniel and produced by Encore Films for Israeli network Kan 11, 06:30 reveals first-hand, immediate testimonies of survivors of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel from seven different attack sites. Also for Kan 11, Nadav Ben Zur-directed The Last Recordings explores the experiences of Israeli youth trapped inside a shelter after escaping during the Nova music festival massacre. The doc is produced by HSS.
Johnnie Walker to retire from radio
Radio 2 DJ Johnnie Walker is to retire after 58 years. Walker, who has been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis earlier this year, made the “very sad announcement” while presenting his Sunday show Sounds of the 70s. “The struggles I’ve had with doing the show and trying to sort of keep up a professional standard suitable for Radio 2 has been getting more and more difficult, hence my little jokes about Puffing Billy, so I’ve had to make the decision that I need to bring my career to an end after 58 years,” he told listeners. He joined Radio 1 in 1969 and Radio 2 in 1998. He has presented Sounds of the 70s since 2009 and The Radio 2 Rock Show on Friday nights since 2018. His last show will happen on 27 October.
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