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Exclusive: Tubi has landed U.S. and Canadian rights to South African limited series Devil’s Peak about a Detective tracking down a vigilante killer in Cape Town.

Penned by Moon Knight scribe Matthew Orton, the big-budget five-episode thriller is based on a hit 2004 novel by Deon Meyer and is produced by Happy Valley maker Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions in association with MultiChoice Studios and BBC Studios. It launched last year locally on South Africa’s M-Net and BBC Studios sells around the world.

Starring Hilton Pelser, the series follows Detective Benny Griessel, who is tasked with tracking down a vigilante killer whose crimes are capturing the imagination of the city. As he gets closer to his mark, Griessel finds himself drawn into a dark and dangerous world where nothing is what it seems.

Fox-owned Tubi has landed U.S. and Canadian rights from next week.

“Devil’s Peak...

Luc Besson To EP ‘Rainbow Warrior’ Feature Doc

Luc Besson is exec producing a feature documentary exploring the stranger-than-fiction tale of the bombing of the iconic ship Rainbow Warrior, which is in the works with Doscville Studios, Gnz, EuropaCorp and Expanded Media. Pre-sales to Dr, Svt and Nrk have already been struck for Rainbow Warrior and a streamer and UK broadcast partner will soon be announced. The feature charts happenings in 1985 when two bombs exploded in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, sinking the ship of a small environmental group in the dead of night. Investigators initially suspected terrorists but quickly uncovered a trail of clues that lead directly to the French secret service. “This story is more relevant than ever with the seemingly constant threat of nuclear war and the environmental crusade that many young people will consider their life’s mission,” said director Edward McGurn. Besson is an...

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's overall deal at Starz may be over, but the star is still dedicated to developing hit series for the premium cabler.

Starz announced today it is in development on Fightland, executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

The scripted drama series is set within the high stakes, cash rich, dangerous world of British boxing.

Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith have signed on work on the project that follows a retired disgraced world champion fighter drawn into the corrupt underbelly of the sport after the disappearance of his childhood best friend and training partner.

To save his friend, the troubled fighter will have to return to a way of life that nearly destroyed him – one that cost him everything to leave behind.

“‘Fightland’ embodies the stakes, swagger and ambition that collaborations between Starz and 50 Cent have come to represent,” said Kathryn Busby, President, Original Programming at Starz of the show entering development.

Power player Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has found a new fight at Starz.

The rapper/executive producer is developing Fightland, adrama about the tumultuous world of British boxing, TVLine has learned.

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The potential series will follow a retired — and disgraced — world champion fighter who is pulled into the dark side of the sport after his childhood best friend and training partner goes missing. “To save his friend,...

The drama series Fightland from executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is currently in development at Starz. The scripted project is set within the high-stakes, cash-rich, dangerous world of British boxing.

Related Story 'Party Down': Starz Announces Return Date For Series Revival Related Story 50 Cent Jokingly Uses Arrest Of 'Bmf' Star Demetrius 'Lil Meech' Flenory Jr To Promote Show's Season 2 Return Related Story 'Step Up' Canceled After Its One Season On Starz Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith

From writing duo Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith, Fightland follows a retired disgraced world champion fighter drawn into the corrupt underbelly of the sport after the disappearance of his childhood best friend and training partner. To save his friend, the troubled fighter will have to return to a way of life that nearly destroyed him – one that cost him everything to leave behind.

“Fightland embodies the stakes, swagger, and...

Gentleman Jack producer Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions are adapting Deon Meyer’s bestseller Devil’s Peak into a five-part series for M-Net.

Set in Cape Town, the thriller is being adapted by Moon Knight writer Matthew Orton and follows talented but broken Detective Benny Griessel, who is tasked with tracking down a righteous vigilante killer whose crimes are capturing the imagination of the city. Benny and grieving father Thobela are brought into the orbit of trapped mother Christine, who is willing to do anything to achieve a better life for herself and her daughter, and the fates of these three characters become inextricably linked as the series builds to its explosive climax.

Series stars Hilton Pelser, Sisanda Henna and Tarryn Wyngaard and is being directed by Jozua Malherbe. Orton is adapting with Amy Jephta, who is also associate producer.

Exclusive: The untold story of Reverend Jesse Jackson is to be made into a theatrical documentary feature and limited TV series, with Jackson’s son Yusef D Jackson set to co-exec and Peabody Award-winning Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed director Shola Lynch attached.

Expanded Media and Lawrence Elman/Nick Fraser’s Docsville Studios are behind the as-yet-untitled big-budget project, which will include exclusive access to the influential U.S. heavyweight figure and his family, along with unseen archive footage over a period of 60 years.

The producers described the film and series as “Reverend Jackson’s personal story, in his own words, for the first time.”

The civil rights leader and two-time Democratic presidential candidate was born in 1941 in the segregated south and the film will explain and explore what drove him and continues to drive him, detailing his omnipresence wherever civil rights, human rights and injustice are present.

“Despite his Parkinson’s,...

The doc is a co-production between Fraser’s Docsville Studios, Altitude Factual and Expanded Media.

Oscar-winning UK director Kevin Macdonald is teaming with Altitude and broadcaster ITV for a feature documentary that delves intothe UK’s ICU wards during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The One Day In September director is working with Canadian film producer Lawrence Elman and founder of BBC’s Storyville strand Nick Fraser on The Year That Changed Britain (working title).

The documentary is a co-production between Fraser’s Docsville Studios, Altitude Factual and Expanded Media.

ITV controller of factual Jo Clinton Davis and head...

ITV has commissioned Covid-19 documentary “The Year That Changed Britain” with Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald directing, Variety has learned exclusively.

The film will attempt to tell the story of the pandemic’s impact on Britain through the intimate personal and professional experiences of those who lived through it. Producers have secured “unprecedented” access to intensive care units across the country — from the Whittington Hospital in London to the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire. The film begins before the pandemic became a worldwide medical emergency and stretches through full lockdown, into the peak of the crisis and beyond.

“The Year That Changed Britain,” which is a working title, is a co-production between Lawrence Elman and former BBC Storyville commissioner Nick Fraser’s Docsville Studios, Altitude Factual and Expanded Media. The film will be released in U.K. and Irish cinemas by Altitude Film Distribution in 2021.

Macdonald’s film credits include “One Day in September,...

ITV Studios, Sky execs join UK outfit.

Lookout Point has hired two drama heavyweights to aid its growth plan – ITV Studios drama exec Francis Hopkinson and Sky’s head of scripted production Louise Mutter.

Hopkinson, who has been with ITV Studios since 2011, has been named executive producer and will be tasked with developing and producing his own slate of original dramas.

He will also produce the company’s forthcoming Andrew Davies-penned adaptation of A Suitable Boy for BBC1.

He will also form part of the senior team at Benchmark Television, the high-end drama venture that Lookout Point established with Danny Cohen’s Access Entertainment.

PBS just aired the final episode of Home Fires in the U.S., but is that really it for the TV show? Recently, executive producers Simon Block and Francis Hopkinson spoke with RadioTimes about the cancellation of the UK series.The period drama, which aired on ITV in the UK, follows the members of the Women’s Institute during World War II. The cast includes Francesca Annis, Daisy Badger, Mark Bazeley, Leanne Best, and Samantha Bond. The show was cancelled last year after only two seasons.Read More…...

ITV Encore has set the cast for its four-part thriller, Bancroft. Sarah Parish (Broadchurch) will star as the eponymous tortured detective with dark secrets in her past. Created and written by Kate Brooke (Mr Selfridge), Bancroft is the first commission from the Itvs drama label, Tall Story Pictures, founded by producers Francis Hopkinson and Catherine Oldfield. Also joining the cast are Faye Marsay (Game Of Thrones) and Linus Roache (Vikings). Hopkinson and Brooke are…...

ITV Encore has set the cast for its four-part thriller, Bancroft. Sarah Parish (Broadchurch) will star as the eponymous tortured detective with dark secrets in her past. Created and written by Kate Brooke (Mr Selfridge), Bancroft is the first commission from the Itvs drama label, Tall Story Pictures, founded by producers Francis Hopkinson and Catherine Oldfield. Also joining the cast are Faye Marsay (Game Of Thrones) and Linus Roache (Vikings). Hopkinson and Brooke are…...

Max Irons and Sam Neill have joined the cast of ITV's event series "Tutankhamun".

Peter Webber ("Emperor") will direct and Guy Burt ("Jekyll and Hyde," "The Borgias") is writing all the episodes of this epic story of Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Starting from 1905, Carter (Irons) was an eminent British archaeologist in his twenties whose license is revoked by Cairo's Antiquities Service.

After years spent broke and ostracised, a chance meeting with the dashing British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon (Neill) begins an unlikely friendship. The pair ultimately discover the last resting place of the boy-king in 1921 against all odds and at great personal expense.

Francis Hopkinson and Catherine Oldfield will executive produce and Simon Lewis will produce. Filming will take place in South Africa during the winter and early 2016.

Source: Deadline...

ITV is working on a new event series based around the discovery of Tutankhamun.

The four-part drama - from The Bletchley Circle writer Guy Burt - will tell the compelling true story of how Howard Carter came to discover the tomb of Ancient Egypt's boy-king.

Carter's incredible story will begin in 1905 as he leads an expedition to find lost treasures in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

However, he finds himself living rough when his license to dig is revoked, and he is forced to sell his previous finds in order to survive.

An unlikely friendship with a British aristocrat named Lord Carnavon brings Carter back to archaeology, and helps him make one of the most significant discoveries of the modern age.

The drama will be executive produced by ITV Studios' Creative Director of Drama, Francis Hopkinson, who has previously worked on Home Fires, Jekyll & Hyde and Wallander.

She said:...

ITV has ordered a new drama series based on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and My Hyde.

Charlie Higson will provide the script and serve as executive producer on new show Jekyll & Hyde.

The series, which was previously rumoured to be in development, is set in 1930s London and focuses on Robert Jekyll, the grandson of the original Dr Jekyll.

Higson said of the project: "It's an exciting challenge to take Stevenson's work and use it as the basis for a new Jekyll & Hyde.

"So many superheroes with secret dual personalities have been brought to life thanks to Jekyll and Hyde. He's one of literatures most important and influential characters and it's a privilege to be rediscovering him."

Higson is known for his work on The Fast Show and his successful Young Bond book series.

Colin Teague will direct, ITV Studios Director of Drama...

ITV has announced a new six-part World War II drama series.

Created and written by Simon Block and given the working title Jambusters, the drama follows a group of inspirational women in a rural Cheshire community.

"We're really delighted to have commissioned Jambusters," said ITV director of drama Steve November.

"Great writing from Simon has given Julie Summers's wonderful book a fictional life. The women are real and engaging, and have fantastic spirit and attitude.

With World War II on the horizon, multiple strands of plot interweave to create a period drama full of jeopardy and intrigue, but also great humanity and modernity."

Executive producer Francis Hopkinson added: "Thanks to Simon Block's brilliant script, inspired by Julie Summers's book, this series will take a fresh look at life on the Home Front, showing both the tragedies and the triumphs, and offering some wonderful roles for Britain's top actresses.

Lucan focuses on the life of Lord Lucan, aka Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, a suspected murderer who disappeared without trace in 1974. ITV has commissioned the two-part drama which examines the events surrounding the bludgeoning death of Lucan’s children’s nanny Sandra Rivett, after which the Lord escaped a police search. Rory Kinnear (Skyfall) will play Lucan whose whereabouts and eventual fate have remained a mystery for nearly 40 years. The movie will also tell the story of Lucan’s exploits as a member of the Clermont Set, a group of British high-rollers who regularly met in a Mayfair casino. Christopher Eccleston and Michael Gambon also star. Jeff Pope, whose credits include the upcoming Philomena, wrote the screenplay. The drama is produced by ITV Studios/GroupM Entertainment. Exec producers are Pope, Francis Hopkinson (Wallander), Quentin Curtis, Richard Foster and Tony Moulsdale. Producer is Chris Clough. Adrian Shergold...

Everyone is enjoying the holiday here at PlanetdoorQ. We might be back later this weekend. We might all get drunk, hook up with hotties while singing the Star Spangled Banner and dance in the streets wearing nothing but sparklers and a smile. Until next we meet, enjoy the Holiday, be safe, and take a moment to remember all of those who lived, fought and died, for the hope, for the dream, for the reality of America.--Tann Declaration of Independence

Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.

The original spelling and capitalization have been retained. 

(Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)

The Unanimous Declaration

of the Thirteen United States of AmericaWhen, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station...