Starting MIPCOM in Cannes, Keshet International has completed its first sales for the comedy drama Ralph & Katie (6x’30), which debuted to rave reviews in the UK on BBC One from 5 October, to Disney+. The company attends the event with its biggest delegation since 2019 while it celebrates its 10th anniversary.
The deal is part of a wider agreement that also includes all three seasons of The A Word, the BBC One drama inspired the eponymous spin-off series starring Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy as newlyweds Ralph and Katie. Disney+ has licensed multiple rights for both titles across all of Europe (excluding the UK), the Middle East and Africa.
The A Word is available on Disney+ across the Nordics and Belgium, with staggered launches slated for Portugal, Italy, Spain and France from November, and Germany, Austria and Switzerland following suit in the New Year. Ralph & Katie will debut in early 2023.
Keren Shahar, KI’s COO and President of Distribution, said: ‘Being part of the team which has helped Keren Margalit’s Yellow Peppers develop from a beautiful family drama here in Israel into a returning primetime BBC One drama that has sold in more than 80 territories and spawned its own spin-off is incredibly satisfying. We are so thrilled that buyers are as captivated with Leon and Sarah’s performances as we are’.
Co-produced by ITV Studios and Keshet UK in association with Tiger Aspect for BBC One, Ralph & Katie is a feel-good comedy-drama that follows our couple during their first year of marriage, as they take on many of the challenges faced by all newlyweds… but with the added blessing or complication that they both have Down’s syndrome. The series has been generating positive media headlines in the UK – not just for its performances, but for its progressive approach to inclusivity and representation in TV production.
The A Word is a Fifty Fathoms/Tiger Aspect and Keshet UK production for BBC One. The ground-breaking family drama is based on Yellow Peppers, an Israeli series written and created by Keren Margalit for Keshet Broadcasting.
Yesterday, before MIPCOM 2022 started, Shahar and its sales and marketing team celebrated the company’s 10th anniversary with an event on its department, gathering more than 50 people including key buyers, producers and distributors from the international market.
With a new stand located in Riviera 7 (K22), KI is returning to Cannes with its biggest delegation since 2019 and a slate brimming with fresh new content to match. New titles include the colorful biopic miniseries Cuba Libre (RTP), Summer of Sorrow (Elisa), Too Much Love (Bell Media’s Noovo), Stockholm Sweden (SVT), How To Dad (ARD), and Pørni S3 (Viaplay) and Roomies S2 (CMore and MTV Finland) on its scripted slate; the true crime docuseries My Name is Reeva: I was Murdered by Oscar Pistorius Mnet), Finding the Cornish Dream (Ch4), Billionaires’ Resorts (Ch5), Emergency Nurses: A&E Stories (ITV2), and Dirty Home Rescue (Ch5) on its factual slate; and I Do, But with Who and Mother’s Date (Keshet 12) on its format slate.
