[9.50 - French Time] Broadcast reports that the long-running Scottish crime drama Taggart will finally continue in spite of the current pressure on drama budgets and past rocky relationships between STV and ITV.The Scottish network will make a new 6 x 60-minute series and will air it exclusively in the autumn, before ITV1 gets the show in 2011. Digital cable and satellite network UKTV has also put money in it for the secondary broadcast rights, and its crime channel Alibi will air the series from 2013. The shooting of the latest series will begin in the spring (http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/broadcasters/itv-buries-hatchet-to-hang-on-to-taggart/5011022.article?referrer=RSS).
Created in 1983 by Scottish screenwriter, playwright and novelist Glenn Chandler, Taggart survived the death of its star Mark McManus (DCI Jim Taggart) in 1994 and went on with other DCIs. The show, sold in more than 40 countries, celebrated its 100th episode last Christmas (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a192911/taggart-actor-amazed-at-its-longevity.html).
This deal for a new series of Taggart recalls, on another scale, the multi-partnership which resurrected Primeval for two more seasons last fall and which also involves UKTV. ITV director of TV, channels and online Peter Fincham said about the resurrection of the costly sci-fi show: « I don’t think all drama will be funded this way, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of it. It’s a reality of a world in which it’s challenging for broadcasters to fully fund drama » (http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/commissioning/fincham-drama-deals-could-be-way-forward/5006271.article).
See also:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a203893/stv-itv-uktv-partner-for-new-taggart.html
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