BBC & PBS Team For Access Documentary On The Race To Rebuild Notre Dame

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Four and PBS are co-producing a special documentary on the mission to revive the Notre Dame de Paris after it was devastated by a fire on April 15, 2019.

Rebuilding Notre Dame: Inside The Great Cathedral Rescue (working title) will be produced by British production company Windfall Films and will broadcast to mark a year since the inferno destroyed large parts of the iconic building.

The film, which will air in the U.S. as part of PBS and WGBH Boston’s science series NOVA, will follow the collaboration between architects, scientists, archaeologists and engineers in their efforts to restore Notre Dame.

“To spend time over the past year inside Notre Dame was both awe-inspiring and deeply moving,” said director Joby Lubman. “This is a building that means a great deal to many around the world, so to have this remarkable access was truly humbling.”

NOVA co-executive producer Chris Schmidt added: “By investigating archaeological mysteries and clues from the past, we’re able to understand the fabric of one of the world’s most treasured architectural icons like never before.”

Rebuilding Notre Dame was commissioned by BBC Four channel editor Cassian Harrison and commissioning editor Sreya Biswas, alongside NOVA co-executive producers Julia Cort and Schmidt. Lubman is the director, while Alessandra Bonomolo is the producer and Carlo Massarella the executive producer for Windfall, which is owned by Argonon Group.

The documentary will be sold internationally by ITV Studios. The NOVA version, Saving Notre Dame, will be distributed by PBS in the U.S.