Gunpowder ignites raft of deals for Endemol Shine International
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Editor
| 22 February 2018

Drama Gunpowder, starring Kit Harington and Liv Tyler, will air across multiple new territories after Endemol Shine International has revealed it has signed a number of distribution deals for the Kudos miniseries.

Gunpowder delves into the history behind the gunpowder plot in London in 1605, the selection of the team to carry it out, the gathering of the resources and the obstacles they came up against. Every year on 5 November the English mark the discovery of the plot with bonfires and fireworks. It is often called Guy Fawkes day because many people believe - erroneously - that the plot was devised by Fawkes. However, while he did play a pivotal role, the man who actually dreamed up the plot and was its driving force was Robert Catesby (Harington), a 30-year old Warwickshire gentleman.

The miniseries was produced by Kudos in association with Thriker Films and commissioned by BBC One. It was launched in October 2017 on BBC One where it increased its audience by an average of 82% in the 28 days following transmission - the highest uplift for any BBC One Drama series last year. Gunpowder was particularly successful on BBC iPlayer, where it received over 6.5 million requests across the series.

The programme was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, director of content, and Piers Wenger, controller drama commissioning, for BBC One. Executive producers are Ollie Madden for Kudos and Matthew Read for the BBC, as wel as Ronan Bennett. Kit Harington and Daniel West are co-executive producers for Thriker Films, with Laurie Borg producing.

Endemol Shine International holds global distribution rights, and the three-part drama has sold to Australia (BBC Worldwide), Africa, South Africa, Middle East, Benelux (BBC Worldwide), Israel (DBS Satellite), New Zealand (LightBox), German speaking Europe (RTL), Italian speaking Europe (Discovery) and Japan (Tohokushinsha Film Corporation).

Endemol Shine International has also struck entertainment deals in the UK with Dazzler Entertainment, in Germany with Justbridge Entertainment and in Australia and New Zealand with Beyond Home Entertainment. The 17th century thriller has previously sold to HBO in North America, where Gunpowder drew in an average of nearly two million viewers for each episode, and HBO Europe, which saw the series air in the Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe and Spain.

"There has been a huge amount of international interest in Gunpowder and we are thrilled with the response from broadcasters and viewers alike," said Endemol Shine International CEO Cathy Payne. "With a renowned cast and brilliant script, this Kudos production was always going to be popular and we are extremely pleased of the deals for the show."