EXCLUSIVE: Keshet International (KI) has found its slate headliner for the London TV Screenings with Channel 5’s (now 5) daytime TV drama series Number One Fan.
Announced by Paramount-owned 5 earlier this week and directed by The Day of the Jackal’s Paul Wilmshurst, the show stars Jill Halfpenny as TV presenter Lucy and Sally Lindsay as Donna, her “number one fan,” who saves her from an attack but is obsessive. Grateful and flattered, Lucy invites her “number one fan” to watch her show. But Donna doesn’t fade quietly back into the crowd. She returns. And returns again.
The series is KI’s first from 5 and Clapperboard, the indie run by Mike Benson that has made a wealth of drama series for 5. The network has taken interest in the media space of late and has also greenlit a show about the downfall of disgraced BBC News anchor Huw Edwards starring Martin Clunes.
KI distribution boss Kelly Wright called Number One Fan a “smart, provocative thriller that will keep buyers and audiences guessing right to the end.” SVP Acquisitions Anke Stoll said the team had been “looking to partner with Clapperboard for some time.”
The show will headline KI’s slate at next month’s London TV Screenings, joining the likes of documentaries Pirates of Antiquities and Day Trip: Escaping the Taliban. The Israeli major will present Number One Fan on Tuesday February 24 at the Vue West End Cinema in Leicester Square.
Benson and Suzi McIntosh are execs for Clapperboard. Brett Wilson (Murder Most Puzzling, Sherwood, Catch Me A Killer) is producer. Rachel Kilfeather (Vikings: Valhalla, Small Town, Big Story) is lead writer on the series with Marcus Fleming (Smother, Blackshore). Wilmshurst (The Day of the Jackal, The Last Kingdom) will direct. The series was greenlit by Deputy Chief Content Officer and Head of Scripted, Paramount UK, Sebastian Cardwell.