TV3’s ‘Tales of Irish Castles’, produced by Dublin based Sideline Productions, is set to go global after the sales rights were snapped up by DCD Rights - one of the UK’s leading independent Television distribution companies.
The distribution deal was sealed following a lengthy bidding war and months of negotiations. Patrick Feldman from talent management company ICM Partners, who represents Sideline Productions for the international market, brokered the deal which is one of the highest ever paid for an Irish produced TV series.
The announcement comes just ahead of MIPCOM, which takes place in Cannes from Monday 13th October – Thursday 16th October. MIPCOM sees the industry’s major players converge in Cannes transforming four days of meetings, screenings and conferences into deals for programming and ground-breaking partnerships.
’Tales of Irish Castles’, which is presented by award-winning actor Simon Delaney, is a six part documentary series exploring the stories and characters associated with the most beautiful, notorious and historical castles built across Ireland. The six one-hour shows investigate the key role that Irish castles (mostly financed by the British crown) played across the centuries and with aerial footage, reconstructions and insightful interviews the series takes the audience on a journey throughout the island of Ireland.
Jeff Ford, TV3 Group Director of Content, said:It's great to see even more Irish programming taking front and centre in the international market place. Tales of Irish Castles is a first class documentary series that tells its stories through an accessible and entertaining delivery by host Simon Delaney, our guide through 1000 years of history.
‘Tales of Irish Castles’ was written and created for the BAI Sound and Vision Fund by Sideline's Executive Producer, Billy McGrath, who adds:We are always developing new Irish scripted and non-scripted projects that have a commercial life internationally. We are delighted for the brilliant production team, TV3 and the BAI that this top class series - and let's not forget Ireland's culture and heritage - will be sold and celebrated around the world.
Mostly funded by the BAI, the series is produced by Una Shinners and Ciara Bresnihan; executive produced by TV3's Owen McArdle; directed by Sarah Share and hosted by award-winning actor Simon Delaney (BBC's ‘The Fall’ and ‘Roy’; CBS's ‘The Good Wife' and SKY's Emmy Award winning ‘Moone Boy’).
‘Tales of Irish Castles’ aired on TV3 in summer 2014 and will be repeated again in early 2015.