The French maker of the lavish TV period drama Versailles is launching a €50m (£42.4m) fund to make English-language dramas with UK production companies, in a move influenced by the weakening of the pound since the Brexit vote.

Newen Group aims to capitalise on the success of Versailles, described as the sexiest TV drama ever, by setting up a London office and will look to tap the UK market for talent and drama projects in the high-end €1.5m-€3m per episode range.

Christophe Nobileau, the managing director of Newen, said: “We considered that the cost in the UK was too much [pre-Brexit]. A show that would cost say €1m an episode in France would cost maybe €1.3m to make in the UK. The change in the exchange rate we have seen is going to help shows made in the UK to be a little more affordable”.



The drop in the pound’s value means TV shows could become about 10% cheaper to make.

Newen, which is owned by French broadcaster TF1, has made a number of French-language hits that have travelled well. These include police dramas Braquo and Spiral – the first ever non-English primetime drama bought and aired by the BBC in 2006 – which opened the door for shows such as The Killing and Borgen.



The international success of Versailles – the most expensive French drama ever made and the second series of which is currently airing on BBC2 – has encouraged Newen to make English-language blockbusters.



Malika Abdellaoui, managing director of Newen Distribution, the division launching into the UK, said: “It is the right time to increase our activity and presence in English-speaking content. We are happy to take advantage of the [currency] situation if we can but it is also strategically the right time to do this.”



Newen will also look to benefit from selling English-language shows to international broadcasters. English-language shows can command up to twice the price of a French-language production.



Abdellaoui said that Newen’s French roots are irrelevant when it comes to seeking “glocal” hits, those made in a particular country with an eye to international success.



“If someone offered up Happy Valley [set in West Yorkshire] we’d invest in that,” she says. “It doesn’t have to have a hook in France.”



However, Newen, which could make as many three series a year in the UK, is also looking to bring a wave of French shows to the UK market from the 30-plus production companies it owns.



There has been a boom in investment in high-end TV in the UK by domestic and foreign companies thanks to high-quality talent both on and off-screen, as well as financial factors such as an attractive tax break for drama that costs more than £1m per episode.

The vast majority of this boost has come from the US. This includes shows such as HBO’s Game of Thrones, which is mostly filmed in Northern Ireland, while more recently Netflix and Amazon have invested huge amounts into shows such as The Crown, The Collection and the Grand Tour.

The BFI says the figure for inward TV production investment has nearly doubled from £252m in 2013 to a record of almost £500m last year. There were 36 productions of high-end TV shows last year, an 11% rise in total spend to £477.8m.



Nobileau added: “Until now UK producers have been happy with UK and US deals to make shows. [European] money has not been absolutely needed. But the cost of making shows is rising everywhere and across Europe [traditional] broadcasters are putting less and less money into TV shows. Broadcasters and producers need different sources and models of funding. In Germany, France and Italy there is a lot of money. We want to apply Newen’s successful entrepreneurial spirit to the UK distribution and co-production market.”

