Attention, Human Beings of Britain: Community‘s Season 6 is coming to the UK courtesy of Sony less than 24 hours after it debuts on Yahoo Screen in the U.S. Sony Entertainment Television will air the first double-bill episode of the new season on March 18 at 10:05 PM. After Dan Harmon’s cult comedy was cancelled by NBC last year, Yahoo came to the rescue and ordered 13 episodes. Anthony and Joe Russo are helming the first episode with series star Jim Rash and his The Descendents co-swcreenwriter/co-Oscar winner Nat Faxon helming the second part. Paget Brewster and Keith David have joined returning castmembers Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Ken Jeong and Rash for the new season.
National Geographic Channels International has commissioned an untitled European series from ITV Studios Norway. This will be the first long series format shot entirely in Norway for the channel’s European footprint. The project follows the wild and rugged men who work the specialized tow trucks on the treacherous mountain roads between Oslo and Bergen. Each winter, hundreds of trucks and other vehicles, representing millions in trade, get trapped in the snows, go sliding off the road or careening down steep embankments. The mountain ranges between Norway’s two main cities are unforgiving and, in winter, can be fatal. The series forms part of the European productions developed by the channel’s program commissions and content hub in the UK. No word on when it will air.
Britain’s Royal Television Society has announced the nominations for the RTS Programme Awards 2013-14. Honoring excellence across all genres of TV programming, the awards will be handed out March 17 in London. In the drama series category are the BBC’s Happy Valley, Peaky Blinders and Line Of Duty. In the drama serial race are ITV’s Prey, the BBC’s The Driver and Maggie Gyllenhaal thriller The Honourable Woman. Up for best actress are Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire, Sheridan Smith in ITV’s Cilla and Murdered By My Boyfriend’s Georgina Campbell for the BBC. Male nominees include Toby Jones for the BBC’s Marvellous, Tom Hollander as Dylan Thomas in the BBC’s A Poet In New York and Adeel Akhtar for Channel 4’s Utopia.
ITV has commissioned Big Box, Little Box, a series that sees consumers testing products at home and offering viewers their unvarnished opinions. Initial, part of Endemol Shine, will produce the six-part primetime factual entertainment format. At the beginning of each show, every home will receive an exciting delivery — an assortment of boxes wrapped in brown paper, some little and some big. They could contain anything from a widescreen TV or family car to the latest shake diet or spray tan. Over three days, the families go about their lives, trying out the products and sharing no-holds-barred reviews. Executive producer is Initial’s Creative Director Mirella Breda and series producer is Lucy Shepherd.
BAFTA is taking its first-ever visit to Shanghai, as part of the delegation of British organizations attending the UK Government’s Great Festival of Creativity, from March 2-4. The Duke of Cambridge will officially open the Festival and, as President of BAFTA, will discuss the academy’s intentions to foster creative and cultural exchange between British and Asian practitioners in the film, television and games industries. This follows BAFTA’s 2013 outreach trip to Hong Kong and a broadcast deal with Youku Tudou to stream the BAFTA Awards ceremonies, and the establishment of a Hong Kong scholarship program. BAFTA recently recruited Liz Shackleton as Asia Programmer and Producer to devise and deliver a program of events and initiatives across Asia that share industry expertise with UK and Asian audiences.
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