Iconic British crime drama’s reboot becomes HUGE global hit despite mixed reviews in UK
BERGERAC received a very mixed response when it was rebooted in Britain recently, but apparently the rest of the world can’t get enough of it.
The detective series set on Jersey has been snapped up by execs in Japan, and will go out on their premium pay TV broadcaster WOWOW.
It comes after the programme, which stars Damien Molony filling the lead role once held by John Nettles, was a hit for UKTV, although some critics and fans preferred the original.
The overnight and catch-up tally for the six-parter was a respectable 1.8m an episode, which gave the streaming platform one of the best weeks in its history.
Already flogged to the Netherlands, Belgium, all of Scandinavia, Poland and even New Zealand and Australia, it’s becoming a bigger Jersey export than spuds and milk.
Chris to be voice of ADHD
HE’S become a voice for neurodivergent people since opening up about his own diagnosis in his documentary, Asperger’s And Me, in 2017, and BBC series Inside Our Autistic Minds two years ago.
And Chris Packham is adamant he isn’t put off by the criticism he receives for speaking up about relevant issues ahead of his latest BBC Two show, Inside Our ADHD Minds.
The TV presenter, who first became known for his work as a naturalist, said: “I am fortunate to have a small voice, I ought to exercise that voice and I’m not the sort of bloke who’s going to make a piece of TV, go home, open a bottle of wine and forget about it.
“Of course it comes at a cost, we live in a world where you’ll be criticised for saying anything and I get push back, more over the environment than speaking about neurodiversity, but it’s there.
“But my sister reminded me the other day, I’ve been bullied all my life, I was bullied in the playground and now, I’m being bullied in the House of Commons.
“It doesn’t really matter – it’s all the same thing, and I’ve become quite robust.”
Inside Our ADHD Minds will be broadcast tonight at 9pm on BBC Two.
Theo Gan do it
THINGS must have got a little hot and intimate when Theo James squeezed into a boat to film a new Dolce & Gabbanna ad in Capri, Italy.
But he was the perfect gentlemen with fellow model Vittoria Ceretti, who also happens to be the girlfriend of actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
They were re-enacting the famous 2007 campaign – for the D&G fragrance Light Blue – by another hunky Brit, David Gandy.
Theo, who’s now filming the second series of Netflix’s The Gentlemen, clearly had to hit the gym for the job of projecting this image of Herculean masculinity.
Lucky for him, I turned down D&G’s initial approach.
Aisling’s hairy moment
FINDING out you’re related to a criminal mastermind is likely to be the biggest fear for most celebrities who sign up to dig into the past on Who Do You Think You Are?
But comedian Aisling Bea reveals she is most worried about discovering something terrible, like how bad her ancestors’ hairstyles were.
Aisling, who features on the series next Tuesday night, joked: “I feel this weird, part-excitement, and part-nerves because I love history, but God, what if I find out something terrible?
“Like, what if they all had mullets? That’s something you’d never really recover from.
“There is a bit of losing control that I’m not entirely comfortable with.”
Aisling travels to Ireland to uncover the history of her three-times great-grandparents during the Great Famine and her great-great-grandmother’s teaching career.
She will appear on Who Do You Think You Are? on May 20 at 9pm on BBC One.
Jez won’t bale on farm hit
HE’S about to release Clarkson’s Farm 4 on Prime Video on May 23, and has started on a fifth instalment, but Jeremy Clarkson is already talking about making a sixth series.
The telly farmer hinted he’d be open to another season, but not until everyone’s had a breather.
He said: “I’d do a sixth if there was a reason, like a bloody good story.
“Whatever happens, we’ll take a short break as the crews are worn out.
“We’ve been filming (at Diddly Squat Farm, Oxfordshire) two or three days a week, every week, for five years. Everybody could do with a rest.”
Jeremy hinted he might make history documentaries instead, telling The Sunday Times: “My mind is still attuned to stories.
“You just go, ‘That would make a good story, that would interest people’.
“I’ve got probably ten ideas. But then you’ve got to sell it to a broadcaster and they’re all in dire straits.”
I’m pretty sure Prime Video would want to keep you on their books, Jezza.