The Stage

Avalon and C4 combine forces to develop international formats

Published Tuesday 12 April 2005 at 14:50 by Liz Thomas

Avalon and Channel 4 International are launching a new television production company, which will specialise in developing original TV formats for the UK and international markets.

Tinderbox Television aims to capitalise on the worldwide popularity of shows originating from UK production companies such as 19 Entertainment’s Pop Idol and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, made by Celador.

Former BBC development executive Amanda Wilson, who led the teams responsible for alternative formats such as Strictly Come Dancing, Hard Spell and National Lottery Wright Around The World, will manage an in-house creative network as head of development.

Richard Allen-Turner, who is joint managing director of both Avalon and Tinderbox Television, said: “The UK has a strong reputation for creating world class formats that work both domestically and overseas.”

He added the venture had been set up with a remit to create new programming for international broadcasters using British creative talent.

Avalon International, which has an established distribution and sales arm for its independent productions such as Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned and The Sketch Show, will handle international sales of the company’s commissions.

Graeme Mason, managing director of Channel 4 International said the move was crucial because the UK is now the most innovative place for television format development in the world.

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Avalon Productions, which made the show, has included the programme on its sales roster at Mip TV, the five-day film and television trade market staged in Cannes.

There has been interest in the programme, which received close to 50,000 complaints when it aired on BBC2, from English-speaking countries such as New Zealand, Australia, the US and Canada. Broadcasters from Germany - where the production’s creators Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas have been working on opera The Ha-Ha Hole, based around a night out at a London comedy club - as well as Austria and Italy are also enthusiastic about the programme.