Netflix

Marcella renewed as part of ITV/Netflix deal

The streaming giant bought exclusive global rights to the first series of Marcella back in April, they will make the second available internationally in 2017 after ITV have broadcast the episodes here in the UK.

Pulling in an average audience of 6.8 million, series one of Marcella follows the investigation of troubled detective sergeant Marcella Backland into a serial murder case. Having returned to the force after her husband left her, she herself becomes a suspect in the case down to her violent anger-induced blackouts.

This week's top TV: 11 - 17 July

Exodus, BBC, Refugee

Monday

Exodus: Our Journey to Europe

BBC Two

9pm

This three-part documentary series offers a unique insight into the intense and dangerous journeys made by migrants at the peak of the 2015 refugee crisis.

Migrants who were fleeing war, poverty or political upheaval were given camera phones to capture their journey to the relative safety of European shores.

They filmed where regular TV crews could not: on inflatable dinghies bobbing across the Mediterranean or in the backs of trucks as they were smuggled across the Sahara.

Kelsey Grammer and Ron Perlman star in new Netflix animation

Trollhunters follows the adventures of Jim, voiced by Yelchin (Star Trek Into Darkness), a teenaged boy who discovers an ongoing battle of good and evil trolls deep beneath the streets of his hometown of Arcadia.

X-Men actor Kelsey Grammer plays Blinky, a kind-hearted troll who befriends Yelchin's character, while Perlman takes on the role of Bular, a soldier of the evil troll army. 

The lost generation of TV news watchers

Carol Thompson, 26, spends her day battling to get the attention of a classroom of small children. She gets up at 6:15am, runs to work, starts preparing for meetings and adds her finishing touches to lesson plans. At 9:00pm she relaxes on the sofa. Watching the news is the last thing on her mind.

“I generally watch television that I have recorded, rather than watching anything live or simply watching things because they happen to be on,” explains Thompson, whose viewing choices tend towards All 4, iPlayer, ITV Hub and Sky Go.

Your must-watch catch up TV

Catch these gems before they disappear.

Grace and Frankie

 

The slick, silver-haired comedy from Friends creator Martha Kauffman is back for a second season.

Straight-laced Grace and free spirit Frankie are both happily married women when their husbands, Robert and Sol, announce that they are leaving them – for each other.

Netflix to build on in-house productions

Speaking during a self-published video of their investor call, Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings began: "There are so many competitors and everyone is working hard to build the best content. We're seeing growth in the overall internet TV market."

When pressed if there were any plans to purchase an existing film company in order to produce content more easily, chief content officer Ted Sarandos confirmed: "we're building it versus buying it [...] not just in our films, but in several of our series Netflix is the studio and the network." 

Catch up TV picks

1. Kabul Kitchen 

 

Based on true story of Marc Victor, a Radio France Internationale journalist, who ran a restaurant in Kabul for French expatriates until 2008, Kabul Kitchen is a hilarious French-language comedy taking a sideways look at life in the Afghan city.

Jacky runs the popular restaurant, Kabul Kitchen, and all appears to be going well… until his daughter arrived to do some humanitarian work.

Netflix announces new Top Gear deal

Top Gear, Chris Evans, Matt le Blanc,

The SVOD platform already shows older series of BBC Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson.

The details of the deal remain vague, however Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos told Buzzfeed News that the show will “fall under the same deals” of international distribution as the existing Top Gear, adding that the deal will be “multi-territory for sure.”

Netflix announces first original series from Spain

velvet, Bambu Producciones

Although Netflix only launched in Spain in October 2015, the streaming service has announced its first ever original series filmed in the country, which will be available internationally.

The Spanish-language drama will be set in the 1920s and focus on four women from very different backgrounds who work as switchboard operators at Spain’s only television company in Madrid.

The show, which is currently untitled, will offer an insight into the changing technological and social landscape of that time in a region that is often underexplored in global television.