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Nine picks up BBC period drama Parade’s End

Nine has picked up BBC's period drama Parade's End, adapted by Tom Stoppard and starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

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Nine has picked up BBC’s new period drama Parade’s End in a deal with BBC Worldwide Australia, set to screen in 2013.

Adapted for television by acclaimed screenwriter Sir Tom Stoppard, the 5 part series is based on critically-acclaimed novels by Ford Madox Ford.

Its story follows a love triangle between an English Aristocrat, his wife and a young suffragette.

Set against the dying years of the Edwardian era and the First World War, it depicts London high society, the battlefields of France, the streets of Paris and the English countryside.

The impressive cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Rebecca Hall (Vicky Christina Barcelona), Anne-Marie Duff (Nowhere Boy), Australian actress Adelaide Clemens (Silent Hill: Revelation 3D) and Rupert Everett (Stardust).

“Epic tales of love and war are the stuff that memorable television drama events are made of,” said Kaye Warren, BBC Worldwide Australia’s Head of TV Sales.

“The sheer pedigree of talent behind Parade’s End is a guarantee that Australian audiences are in for a treat”.

Nine’s Director of Television Michael Healy said, “I am really delighted to partner with BBC Worldwide on this marquee drama from Sir Tom Stoppard and David Parfitt.”

The production marks Stoppard’s return to television after almost 20 years. The acclaimed screenwriter, playwright and author is also thr recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA, four Tony Awards, four Critics’ Circle Awards, seven Evening Standard Awards and multiple Oliviers.

The drama, produced by David Parfitt and Selwyn Roberts, and exec-produced by Michele Buck, Damien Timmer and Stoppard, is a Mammoth Screen production for the BBC, in association with HBO Miniseries and Trademark Films, Lookout Point and BBCW.

20 Responses

  3. Sounds like another fantastic period drama and I also loved the revival of Upstairs, Downstairs! Sadly, I cannot see Nine breaking from tradition and shafting it to some unratable time slot after 1 week! Yep, Aus TV is so crap!
    Downton Abbey is brilliant! How soon before we get series 2 here? It is alreay up to Ep 3 in the UK!!!

  4. Was kind of hoping that the ABC would get this one! So Nine will run it primetime for the first ep realise that it doesn’t have the viewers for it and shunt it to midnight???

  5. “Downton Abbey clone?” Has anybody here read Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End tetralogy–the source of this series? Alas, reading 900 pages of a modernist classic is a bit much to ask; but a bit of effort is richly rewarded. It’s a war story & a love story & some rather sharp social commentary. With Tom Stoppard writing the script, I’m sure the wit will come across.

    There’s much more to Parade’s End than Downton Abbey or Upstairs/Downstairs–as much as I like those upscale costume soap operas.

  6. There was a news story a couple of weeks ago that the ABC is in danger of losing their ouput deal with the BBC, as it is up for renewal soon, and Nine and Seven may outbid the ABC for the deal.

  8. Jerome, are you pretty tuckered out from your birth yesterday?

    Johnson, it might not look like it sometimes but ABC do have a long-standing output deal with BBC Worldwide which means ABC get to bid on programs first, but a network like Nine can still come along & bid over ABC’s amount. That said, we’ll never know what ABC could’ve been interested in because they never say.

    Yet, it was only a matter of time before that ideas factory, otherwise known as Nine, wanted their own Downtown Abbey.

  9. You’re probably right Davo but at least Nine will have a chance with its long forgotten female demographic. Lucky it is a shelf sale or they may have insisted Warnie play the gardener and Liz Hurley play the milk maid.

  13. Well after the huge success of Downton Abbey on Seven naturalistic period drama (as opposed to pantomine Underbelly style) is nolonger on the nose with commercial networks. Programmers are very conservative when it comes to period drama so this should be regarded as a very positive move by Nine. I hope it is a huge success and convinces Nine there is a big commercial success in diversity. It needs to takes risks if it is going to survive and programmers shouldn’t be punished for doing so.

  14. I feel really sorry for the ABC (and SBS for that matter), which keeps losing out on one BBC program after the other to Nine, due to lack of supply deal between ABC and BBC Worldwide (similar to those between commercial networks and US production companies). Given both BBC and ABC are public broadcasters, shouldn’t ABC get first picks on future productions?

  15. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Downton Abbey and the remake of Upstairs, Downstairs. If Parade’s End is of the same high calibre, then I will probably enjoy it as well.

    It’s a shame we have to wait until 2013 before seeing it. On the other hand, to h*ll with Channel 9 and their notorious programming circus — I’ll just watch out for the DVD release of it on Amazon UK in 2012.

  16. Oooo Benedict Cumberbatch. I hope when they air it it’ll end up on at 8.30pm Sunday and not against Downton Abbey. Will they play Sherlock around the same time if or when they get new episodes too? Although I hope the 2012 episodes play in 2012 .

  17. Definitely seems 9 have forged a strong bond with BBC and 7 have a strong bond with ITV. great to see high profile British shows becoming major players on the Australian tv screen.

  19. Wonder why it is going to BBC 2. What does marquee drama mean – I would have taken it to mean it would be on their premiere channel. Is it too intellecual or high brow for a popularist channel?

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