Lionsgate UK has announced its first television partnership with the BBC after acquiring worldwide sales rights to comedy Motherland.
The six-part show about the traumas of motherhood is written by Graham Linehan (Father Ted), Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe), Helen Linehan and Holly Walsh and produced by Delightful, part of the Twofour Group, and Merman. A one-off episode debuted last year.
Lionsgate have previously worked with the BBC through co-producing BBC Films projects Their Finest, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, Brooklyn and the upcoming On Chesil Beach.
This deal follows recent Lionsgate UK book acquisitions for TV, including The People at Number 9 (from Harper Collins), The Other Side (from Myriad Editions) and Jerusalem based on the book by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
The studio has struck partnerships with production companies Potboiler Television, Bonafide Films, Primal Media & Kindle Entertainment, and also co-financed and are currently selling world-wide rights to Channel 4 comedy Damned.
Motherland is a co-production between Merman and Delightful Industries and is produced by Richard Boden for Delightful and executive produced by Clelia Mountford for Merman. Juliet May (Last Tango in Halifax) directs.
Zygi Kamasa, chief executive of Lionsgate’s European office, said: “When we heard the creator of Catastrophe and creator of Father Ted were writing together to create this new BBC comedy series, we all knew it was a combination we couldn’t resist. So we didn’t and am looking forward to bringing this series to global television audiences.”
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