RTÉ, ARTE and American Public Television enter first-ever documentary co-production
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 22 August 2017

Leading actor Hugh Bonneville is to star in the first project to come from Irish public broadcaster RTÉ’s co-production deal with ARTE, and its first ever co-production with American Public Television (APT).

In November 2016, RTÉ and ARTE signed a new agreement that will see Irish cultural content brought to international audiences. Both parties pledged to contribute a minimum of €250,000*per annum for an initial period of two years*to the development of co-productions in 2017 and 2018, particularly in the fields of documentary, arts, culture, factual, history and natural history.

The 1 x 60’ Countdown to Calvary is a special documentary for Easter 2018, presented by the Downton Abbey and Paddington star and Cambridge University theology degree graduate who in the show travels to Jerusalem to tell the story of the last six days in the life of Jesus Christ.

Shot in 4K, the documentary is said to possess with all the narrative pace and production values of a political thriller. It aims to fuse Bonneville’s documentary elements with high quality location drama, state-of-the-art CGI and graphics and academic insights from some of the world’s leading experts in order to shed new light on the 2 story.

Speaking on location in Israel about the programme, Bonneville said:*“This is a place where history and faith come together. Whether you are a person of faith or of none, you cannot escape the fact that the last six days of this man’s life, and his death, changed the world. I’m not going to chart the religion that grew out of these events. I’m interested in the events themselves: what happened in that final week of Jesus’ life, how he died, why he died and who killed him.”

APT, the leading syndicator of high-quality, top-rated programming to 360-plus public television stations in the US, has co-produced the show with ARTE and RTÉ, and will also retain US public broadcasting rights, distributing the documentary under the title Jesus - Countdown to Calvary. “Jesus: Countdown to Calvary brings life to the story of Jesus’ last days and strives to be accessible to all viewers, regardless of faith,” commented American Public Television president Cynthia Fenneman. “APT is pleased to partner in our first co-production with RTÉ, along with ARTE, to present this riveting exploration of the events, characters and culture clash of the first Holy Week.”

RTÉ Programme Sales*will distribute Countdown to Calvary outside the US, with distributor TVCO creating and marketing a version for Italian-speaking territories. ARTE is to broadcast versions in French and German, with further translations to follow in Spanish and Polish on its*arte.tv*non-linear digital platform. Remarked RTÉ senior production executive and genre head of religious programmes Roger Childs: “Hugh Bonneville’s unique combination of international profile and lightly-worn academic knowledge make him the ideal person to shed new light on the events and context of [Easter week] for mainstream global television audiences of all faiths and none. His visible passion for the subject and his determination to read between the lines of the ancient story make him a compelling and charismatic guide on this intriguing journey.”