Crusoe

I noted recently that NBC had bought Merlin, a new series commissioned by the BBC and produced by Shine for broadcasting this autumn. At the time, I hypothesised that this was probably the first British series since The Avengers that had been bought by a major US network for its primetime schedule.

Well, Power begs to differ. The company is producing Crusoe, a retelling of Daniel Defoe's classic novel, which will be broadcast this autumn on NBC.

According to the Mediaguardian article: "Power, the show's UK producer, claims this is the first time a US network has directly commissioned a British supplier for nearly 40 years."

I'm not entirely sure that this is true. The series that again's being compared here is The Avengers, yet that was commissioned by UK TV company ABC for the ITV network. The Emma Peel episodes were still commissioned by the UK, with onward sales to the US ABC network. While those sales undoubtedly facilitated things like the switch to colour 35mm, that's not the same as a direct commission which is what Power has had.

Crusoe is being shot in London, South Africa and the Seychelles. Power obviously has some strong connections with South Africa, with much of the recent (awful) miniseries/film Flood having been shot there despite near enough the whole story being set in London. Still Power was also behind Casanova, so they don't just make dodgy mini-series.