BBC Vet Sarah Asante Hired to Head UKTV’s Comedy Team

In today’s Global Bulletin, UKTV hires Sarah Asante to ramp up its comedy ambitions; Olga Hellsing and Thomas Douglas join the “Spencer” cast; APC sells “Keeping Faith” season three in key territories; Lionsgate Play and Telkomsel partner in Indonesia; and Channel 4 serves up something new with “Cook Clever, Waste Less with Prue & Rupy.”

HIRING

UKTV has hired longtime BBC vet Sarah Asante to ramp up its scripted comedy division, reporting to UKTV head of scripted Pete Thornton. Asante will join UTKV on April 12 and be tasked with finding, developing, commissioning and executive producing new scripted comedy originals for channels Dave and Gold.

In her time at the BBC, Asante worked as development and digital content editor before being promoted to commissioning editor in 2018, where she handled editorial oversight for a slate of short form series and long form sketch and sitcom programs.

“This is a transformative hire for us” said Thornton in a release. “I know that UKTV is going to benefit hugely from Sarah’s experience and enthusiasm and I’m really looking forward to working with her on our burgeoning scripted slate. She joins the company at an exciting time and I’m sure she’ll quickly make her mark. As well as taking the reins on a number of returning series, Sarah will be integral in generating a portfolio of fresh content for the network.”

Asante added: “Having admired both the comedy and comedy entertainment titles on Dave and Gold over the years, I’m beyond thrilled to play a role in seeing those channels go from strength to strength. The added commitment to amplifying more underrepresented voices in comedy matches my ambition to deliver exciting and distinctive content that audiences across the portfolio will love.”

SALES

About Premium Content (APC) has closed several key deals for season three of the popular BBC/S4C drama series “Keeping Faith,” starring Eve Myles.

New deals for the program include AMC Networks International Southern Europe (Spain and Portugal), TG4 Ireland and Pickbox for the Balkans, MTVA in Hungary and Antena TV Group SA in Romania, Yes-DBS in Israel, CANAL+ and Ale Kino+ in Poland and RTP in Portugal.

APC has also extended its co-production deal with Acorn Media Enterprises for all rights to “Keeping Faith” season three in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand for the AMC-owned streaming platform Acorn TV, as well as home entertainment in the U.K. and Ireland. In Germany, Fox has extended a previous agreement to include season three along with TV4 Media, which has confirmed SVOD rights to the entire series run in Denmark, Norway and Sweden as well as free TV rights for TV4 Sweden.

PARTNERSHIP

Having announced earlier this year that Lionsgate Play will launch in Indonesia, Starz’s South Asia-based streaming platform has unveiled a multifaceted strategic partnership with regional telecommunications business Telkomsel.

Current Telkomsel customers will now be granted access to popular Lionsgate content for film and TV, as well as first-in-Indonesia original series via several methods including data pack linked access, premium data bundling and direct carrier billing. Subscribers will, through Telkomsel’s video app Maxstream, gain a sneak peek of the Lionsgate Play library, with several means of subscribing available thereafter.

UNSCRIPTED

Popular British chefs Prue Leith and Dr. Rupy Aujla are set to team up on Channel 4’s new cooking program “Cook Clever, Waste Less with Prue & Rupy.”

Set up at BBC Studios’ Science Unit and backed by Hellmann’s, the four-part program will focus on ways that home cooks can prepare healthy and exciting meals while limiting the amount of food waste created, with the added benefit of cutting costs as less purchased goods end up in the bins.

Each week, the two cooks will team with a family to explore how food is wasted in their household and propose easy recipes that will meet the families’ needs as well as organize a plan to continue the trends going forward.