England Women’s Soccer Manager Joins RTS Cambridge Lineup
England women’s soccer manager Sarina Wiegman will chat with YouTube’s boss in the UK at next month’s RTS Cambridge Convention. The convention has rounded out lineup with Wiegman, who has won two major trophies for the Lionesses, joining Alison Lomax on stage. Final speakers also include Good Omens star David Tennant in conversation with Charlotte Moore, the ex-BBC content chief who has just moved to Sony. This will be Moore’s first on-stage appearance since leaving the top job at the corporation. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is also aboard, alongside Banijay boss Marco Bassetti, All3Media chief Jane Turton and Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland. This year’s chair of the convention is BBC Director General Tim Davie. Previously announced speakers include FX chair John Landgraf, Candle Media boss Kevin Mayer and Jeff Zucker, the CEO of RedBird IMI. The convention takes place September 16 to 17.
Norway’s TV2 Makes ‘Great School Swap’
Norwegian network TV2 is remaking British series The Great School Swap after licensing the format from Keshet International. Based on a U.S. integration initiative from the 1960s, the original series for Channel 4 saw pupils from an all-white school in Tamworth, Staffordshire, swap with pupils from a nearby all-Asian school to explore how different cultures integrate in new circumstances. TV2’s version, Skolebytte (School Switch), will see 24 ninth graders from two culturally different schools on opposite sides of Oslo come together over two weeks, with one spent at each school. Teddy TV is producing and Janne Amble and Kadafi Zaman will host, reflecting on the issues raised in the five-part show and on their own perspectives and experiences. “Skolebytte shows how meetings across differences can create understanding and community,” said Trygve Rønningen, TV2’s Program Director. “We hope TV viewers will be inspired by the openness and curiosity of these young people. Prejudices can be challenged and broken down when people meet and share experiences, and our hope is that this series contributes to exactly that.” The show debuts on TV2 tomorrow (August 28) on TV2 Play and TV2 Direkte. The Channel 4 series was nominated for Grierson and Royal Television Society Awards.
BritBox Buys ‘The Hardacres’
North American streamer BritBox has acquired period drama The Hardacres from Banijay Rights. The show, made for terrestrial network 5 by Wolf Hall company Playground, in association with Screen Ireland and Red Berry Productions, is billed as “a sweeping rags to riches story that follows the lives, loves and fortunes of the working class Hardacre family as they move from a grimy fish dock to a vast country estate in 1890’s Yorkshire.” 5 renewed the drama, which is based on CL Skelton’s epic novel of the same name, for a second season last month, following the first’s debut on the Paramount-owned network last October. Cast includes Claire Cooper (The Continental, The Peripheral), Liam McMahon (Hunger, The Secret), Julie Graham (Time, Ridley), Adam Little (Ackley Bridge, Coronation Street), Shannon Lavelle and Zak Ford-Williams (Better, Bridgerton).
