Sky Recommissions ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ On Four-Strong Entertainment Slate; Two Rivers Options ‘Chums’; Disney+ Hotstar Euro Trio; Tomorrow Studios Big Light – Global Briefs

Sky Recommissions ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ On Four-Strong Entertainment Slate

Sky has commissioned a second season of its Never Mind the Buzzcocks reboot on a four-strong entertainment slate that includes a football quiz exec produced by Jack Whitehall. The recommission comes alongside a second series of Matt Lucas/Elis James’ Fantasy Football League, Whitehall’s quiz Got Got Need, which is led by football pundits Harry and Jamie Redknapp, and a Nish Kumar/Josh Widdicombe series about local news called Hold the Front Page. Cult music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks aired for nearly 20 years on the BBC before being rebooted last year on Sky, hosted by Greg Davies and featuring Noel Fielding, This Country star Daisy May Cooper and comedian Jamali Maddix. They are joined by a roster of top music and comedy stars each week. All shows will air on Sky Max, which replaced Sky One last year. “We’re excited to showcase some of the best of British talent from the small screen in a host of entertainment shows that will provide us all with some much-needed light relief,” said Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Entertainment.

Two Rivers Options ‘Chums’ 

Channel 4-backed Scottish indie Two Rivers Media has optioned a hit novel about how a group of well-connected young Conservatives in the 1980s who all attended Oxford University including the current and two former Prime Ministers dramatically rose to dominate Britain. Simon Kuper’s Chums has attracted rave reviews and is dominating bestseller lists and Two Rivers will adapt for TV, its third revealed adaptation in recent weeks following Tanya Byrne’s Afterlove and Philip Miller’s The Goldenacre. The book focuses on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former leaders Theresa May and David Cameron, along with heavyweights including Michael Gove, George Osborne and Dominic Cummings, with Kuper, who also attended Oxford in the 1980s, exploring how this narrowest of talent pools has shaped the country over the past two decades. “What makes Chums such an interesting book is its all-encompassing look at this era of Oxford University students and their alma mater, written by someone who was actually there,” said Two Rivers Managing Director Alan Clements.

Disney+ Hotstar Picks Up Euro Drama Trio

Disney+ Hotstar has picked up a trio of European dramas after striking a deal with distributor GoQuest Media. The Indian streamer takes Serbia’s Telekom Srbija duo Civil Servant and Debt to the Sea and Estonian pubcast ERR’s Traitor. GoQuest Managing Director Vivek Lath said “spy dramas have enjoyed consistent success with Indian audiences on streaming platforms.”

Tomorrow Studios Ties With Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light

ITV Studios label Tomorrow Studios has struck a first-look development deal with The X Files and Man in the High Castle scribe Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions. The first-look deal will tap into Big Light’s network of established and emerging writers, and pursuit of IP, to continue expansion of the pair’s development slate. Spotnitz described Tomorrow Studios as “incredibly smart, driven and sharing our commitment to making television that’s truly worth watching.”