ABC to Adapt Hit BBC Parenting Comedy ‘Motherland’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Grey’s Anatomy” has been renewed for Season 20 at ABC. With the renewal, the series continues its run as the longest running primetime medical drama in TV history. In addition, series executive producer Meg Marinis will serve as showrunner on Season 20. Marinis takes over from Krista Vernoff, who was reported to be stepping down from “Grey’s Anatomy” and its spinoff “Station 19” back in January. The Season 19 finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” will air on May 18. The show has seen a number of exits this season, most notably Vernoff and Kelly McCreary (who’s played Dr. Maggie Pierce for nine seasons) — and series lead Ellen Pompeo, kind of. Pompeo has been with the show since it debuted, but in the Feb. 23 episode, her character Meredith Grey moved from Seattle to Boston. She will continue to provide the voiceover at the beginning and end of each episodes, and she’ll also appear on the finale. Pompeo’s status for Season 20 is still up in the air.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The BBC has reversed a controversial decision to disband its professional choir, the BBC Singers. The corporation confirmed on Friday that it’s “suspending” the proposal to close the group, and that the BBC Singers will also appear in this summer’s annual classical concert series, the BBC Proms. In a statement, the BBC said it has “received approaches from a number of organizations offering alternative funding models for the BBC Singers. We have agreed with the Musicians’ Union that we will suspend the proposal to close the BBC Singers, while we actively explore these options. If viable, these alternative options would secure the future of the ensemble.”

EXCLUSIVE: Flight attendant – turned tyro author T.J. Newman has been set to write the script for her debut bestselling novel Falling for Universal and Working Title. Now, her followup manuscript has leaked around town and could be the next hot auction title.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Prime Video drama “The Devil’s Hour” has cast “Top Boy” star Saffron Hocking for Season 2. The British actor has joined the Hartswood Films-produced drama in the role of Sam Boyd, a detective sergeant who worked under DI Lucy Chambers (played by Jessica Raine) in a past life. “The Devil’s Hour” was created by Tom Moran, and is executive produced by “Sherlock” showrunner Steven Moffat. The six-part thriller premiered on Prime Video in October. The show follows Lucy, a social worker suffering from insomnia, who is inexplicably connected to a number of brutal murders in her neighbourhood, and is drawn into the search for a serial killer. The show also stars Peter Capaldi as Gideon Shepherd, a mysterious criminal with a unique relationship with time.

BreAnna Bell Nancy Lenehan has signed on to join Ellie Kemper’s forthcoming comedy pilot “Drop-Off” at ABC as a series regular. She’ll play Marianne, the warm, caring and responsible mother of Julia (Kemper) who’s been taking care of her kids for the last six years. “Having been a working single mom herself, Marianne is not without compassion for Julia’s situation and she loves her grandchildren, but she’s done. Marianne has decided to live her own life from now on, and that includes having an affair with a guy named Rene and firmly taking some time for herself,” reads the character description. In addition to Kemper, she joins previously announced cast member Judy Greer.

Nancy Lenehan is set as a lead opposite Ellie Kemper in ABC’s Drop-Off (working title), a comedy pilot based on the British series Motherland, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Judy Greer, Karan Soni and Michaela Conlin also star.

Ben Croll Cannes acclaimed filmmaker Marie Amachoukeli and leading French studio Miyu Productions will pair on “Happy End,” a macabre comedy Amachoukeli will co-direct with Vladimir Mavounia Kouka. Set for production in 2024, the project has already received backing from Bac Films and MK2, with the latter handling international sales. Variety has scored a first look at the project, which recently presented at the Cartoon Movie pitch and co-production forum in Bordeaux. Imagining a world without death and employing a visual style reminiscent of Max Fleischer, the 2D, adult-targeted film follows Bertha King, a suicidal career soldier who has the bad to luck to finally end things right as the grim reaper hangs up his scythe. Left yearning to die while death has gone on strike, the depressed hero must navigate a morose new existence all of sudden freed from the bonds of mortality.

EXCLUSIVE: Michaela Conlin has been cast as a series regular opposite Ellie Kemper in ABC’s Drop-Off (working title), a comedy pilot based on the British series Motherland, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Judy Greer and Karan Soni also star.

Judy Greer is set as a lead opposite Ellie Kemper in ABC’s Drop-Off (working title), a comedy pilot based on the British series Motherland, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Karan Soni also stars.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Tull Stories has acquired the BIFA-winning feature film “Our River…Our Sky,” which will be released in U.K. cinemas in September. The film won Best Ensemble Performance at the 2022 British Independent Film Awards and was nominated for two other BIFA awards, including Best Casting (Leila Bertrand) and Best Supporting Performance (Zainab Joda). “Our River…Our Sky” features intersecting individual stories set in Baghdad, Iraq, at a time of intense sectarian violence and nightly curfews, unfolding over the last week of 2006 and culminating in the sudden execution of Saddam Hussein.

Ellie Kemper is set to executive producer and star in Lionsgate’s “Drop-Off” (working title), which has been given a pilot order by ABC. The project, which is based on Sharon Horgan’s BAFTA nominated British format comedy “Motherland,” will see Kemper play Julia, a working mom for whom nothing is working so she goes looking for her village.

ABC has confirmed a pilot order for Drop-Off (working title) a comedy based on the British series Motherland, with Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) to star and executive produce. As we previously reported, Karan Soni (Deadpool franchise) also is set as a lead in the project, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) will direct.

BreAnna Bell ABC has placed a pilot order for Ellie Kemper’s “Drop Off” (working title). “Julia (Ellie Kemper) is a working mom for whom nothing is working so she goes looking for her village. With the help of new friends Calvin and Liz, Julia discovers she just might succeed at balancing work and parenting from time to time. This is a comedy for anybody who’s dropped their kids at school, breathed a sigh of relief…then realized it’s Sunday,” reads the logline. Kemper executive produces alongside Sharon Horgan, Clelia Mountford, Stacy Greenberg, Kira Carstensen for Merman Television. Paul Feig, Dan Magnante through Feigco Entertainment. Holly Walsh and Helen Serafinowicz also executive produce. Michael Showalter serves as an executive producer and director. Julieanne Smolinski is attached to write and executive produce. Lionsgate and ABC Signature are the studios behind the production.

Screw and The Victim producer STV Studios has optionedupcoming feminist thriller Good Girls Die Last and is adapting for TV.

There's less than a week until the Love Island grand finale as the Islanders prepare for their biggest challenge yet - becoming parents.

ABC is in negotiations with Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) to headline Motherland, a comedy pilot based on the British series. Karan Soni (Deadpool franchise) has been tapped for a lead in the project, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) has come on board to direct.

A total dog mom. Pregnant Kaley Cuoco and her boyfriend, Tom Pelphrey, welcomed a new addition to the family before the birth of their child.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International BritBox International has reached three million subscribers across its eight international markets, Variety can reveal. The “best of British” streamer, which is backed internationally by BBC and ITV, has reached its latest milestone across the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. (The service launched in the U.K. in November 2019 but split off from the global operation in 2022 and is now integrated into ITV’s streaming offering, ITVX.) “Through what’s been a really challenging time for lots of SVODs, we’ve grown by 15% this year, which certainly exceeds that category growth for the U.S., and lots of our competitors in that set,” Reemah Sakaan, the London-based CEO of BritBox International, tells Variety.

Paul Rudd to adopt a dog that supposedly looks like him.The Collierville Animal Shelter in Tennessee, US reached out to the Ant-Man actor on social media in the hope that he would provide a new home to Waffle House, a male Australian Shepherd mix.Believing that Waffle House bares an uncanny resemblance to the actor, the shelter decided to rename the dog Pawl Ruff.Ruff’s official adoption page reads: “Like Mr. Rudd, I’m a gentle, easy-going fella, the kind of guy you want to be your neighbour, best friend, or life long companion.

Marta Balaga Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool will adapt one of the most successful German-language podcasts, “Zeit Crime” (“Zeit Verbrechen”) into an anthology series for Paramount +. Awarded the German Podcast Prize, “Zeit Crime” is based on the criminal investigations of Sabine Rückert and Andreas Sentker. According to producer Jorgo Narjes, it currently boasts 5 million streams per month and an average of 1.5 million listeners per episode, “most of them female and in their late twenties.” So far, the podcast consists of more than 100 episodes.  Filming started this month and will continue until the end of June 2023.