What do this year’s International Emmy Awards say about the current state of TV production outside the U. S.? If three of its major scripted categories drama series, telenovelas, miniseries are anything to go by, rather a lot. For one thing, global streaming services dominate, accounting for 10 of the 20 nominees, including best actor and actress contenders. The nominations also suggest some ways the streamers are trending, such as their “broadcasterfication,” as Ampere Analysis puts it, as they push to embrace ever larger audiences, with Netflix and Disney+’s first daily soaps in Spain “Valle Salvaje” and “Return to Las Sabinas” making the telenovela cut, and Amazon MGM Studios’ “Vencer o Morir,” about armed resistance to dictator Augusto Pinochet, scoring a berth in the miniseries face-off. Nominations also recognise a second power in the contemporary scripted scene: the big overseas studios and Europe’s public broadcasters. “Rivals” producer Happy Prince, is part of ITV Studios; “Herrhausen The Banker and the Bomb” is sold by Fremantle and made with ARD; “Return to the Sabinas” is produced by Banijay’s Diagonal TV while “Valle Salvaje” is backed by RTVE as well as Netflix. The telenovelas split recognises three of the driving forces in international daily soaps Brazil’s Globo, Turkey’s Ay Yapim and Spain’s Studiocanal-owned Bambu Producciones, whose “The Vow,” an International Emmy Winner last year, still remains the title to beat as daily series exert a lock on Spanish afternoon primetime. There are few stars in the lineup: among them, David Tennant as upstart Lord Baddingham in “Rivals” or, now he’s gone viral, Alex Hassell as its cravenly worshipped true aristo Rupert Campbell-Black. “Peep Show’s” David Mitchell scores a nomination for his performance in “Ludwig.” Talent, however, if still to light a fire globally, can come from anywhere. The bigger scripted categories have two shows from South Africa’s Showmax, for instance, one “Cake,” where an obeisant wife and mother who flips at a bit of dog poo on a park walkway demonstrates, when threatened, that she’s made of sterner stuff; and the other “Catch Me a Killer” in which “Game of Thrones” breakout Charlotte Hope plays the lead role as the psychology professor turned serial killer profiler Micki Pistorius, capturing her determination and the psychological toil o0f her one of work. The International Emmy Awards also questions the alleged dearth of originality in current overseas scripted output. Its makers are certainly playing safer, pumping out multiple variants of comfy crime. Some series may be uplifting but are equally discomfiting. “Deeply detailed, ‘Women in Blue’ takes its audience on a gripping ride that will leave them unsettled until the very end,’” Variety proclaimed in its review of “Women in Blue,” which has drawn a 100% Rotten Tomatoes’ reviewers’ rating. Creatives behind some series have large caché. “Bad Boy,” for instance, is written by Hagar Ben-Asher (“The Slut”) and Ron Leshem, Amit Cohen and Daniel Amsel, all three behind Hulu’s “No Man’s Land” and Leshem and Amsel co-creating the original Israeli “Euphoria.” Highly unpredictable in its early going, “Bad Boy” finally delivers as a multi-layered exposition of empathy: Audiences assume the perspective of a teen con in a juvenile detention facility who in turn reaches out to and befriends his cellmate, a supposed psychotic monster. A closer look at titles competing for this year in drama series, telenovelas and miniseries at the International Emmy Awards: “Bad Boy,” (Sipur, Israel, The North Company, U. S.) A young teen, Dean (Guy Menaster), is sent to a juvenile detention center for drug-dealing. His sense of humor probably saves his life. A compelling and unpredictable series offering a homage to empathy, something so needed in the world today, which was a Toronto world premiere, Seriencamp winner and huge hit on Israel’s HOT. “Koek,” (Cake, Wolflight, Showmax, South Africa) A dark, sometimes LOL comedic female empowerment crime drama from South Africa’s Showtime hailed in its native South Africa as one of the best things that has happened to Afrikaans-language series in years. Living in leafy wealthy suburbia, obeisant housewife/mother Christelle (Cindy Swanepoel, excellent) finds proof her husband is cheating on her with a stripper, sparking events which leads her to work for the murderous cigar-toting strip club madame with a heart of glass. It’s the best thing that’s happened to Christelle for years, as she rediscovers her formerly brilliant wild self as a once top med student. Don’t mess with the new Christelle. “Rivals,” (The Happy Prince, Disney+, U. K.) Disney+’s big U. K. wow in late 2024, oozing sex Concorde loo fornication comes just after nine seconds adapting Dame Jilly Cooper’s “bonkbuster” 1988 novel, a vibrant cocktail detailing the rivalry between arch cad aristo Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassel) and a nouveau-rich TV mogul (David Tennant). Studded by Cooper’s puns, OMG shots of England’s Cotswold Hills, taking in its old money mansions, mass infidelity, normative inebriation, full-frontal nudity and one shot of RCB’s legendary endowment. Loved by critics, from lead writer Dominic Treadwell-Collins and director Elliott Hegarty, both at The Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios. “Women in Blue,” (Fernando Rovzar,) At first glance and in early going, a feelgood women’s empowerment saga as four disparate archetypes raging feminist, the daughter of ultra-conservative police chief, an awkward bookworm and cheated-on doting wife vent their pent-up frustrations joining Mexico’s City’s first women’s police division. But the series shades darker and tenses as a real serial killer seriously imperil the four. From Mexico’s Lemon Studios, a premium TV series pioneer with HBO Latin America’s “Sr. Avila,” an Intl. Emmy winner. Telenovelas “Crazy About You,” (Globo, Brazil) Reuniting João Emanuel Carneiro, creator of Globo’s biggest modern telenovela phenomenon “Brazil Avenue,” with that novela’s best villain, Adriana Esteves. The novela turns like “Brazil Avenue,” as Variety has noted, on the family nucleus and the yin-yang relationship between two strong women chefs, brought together by destiny over and over again throughout their lives. It also features a stellar crop of young leading talent, with large standouts in Agatha Moreira and Chay Suede who in particular charmed audiences in Brazil as an impossibly charming villain, whose comic timing proved a major draw. “The Good & The Bad,” (“Deha,” Ay Yapim, Turkey) Written by Damla Serim (“The Pit”) and produced by Ay Yapim CEO Kerem Catay, lushly shot, fast paced, with characters wearing their hearts on their sleeve. Deva, a maths genius, must confront his con-man father to save his family. A best series winner at October’s Seoul Drama Awards and sold to over 40 territories by Madd Entertainment before it hit Cannes’ Mipcom trade fair this October. One of the latest series from telenovela powerhouse Ay Yapim, best known for the International Emmy-winning “Endless Love,” “Fatmagul,” “Ezel” and “Forbidden Love,” among other global hit series. “Return to Las Sabinas,” (Disney+, Diagonal, Spain) After many years, two sisters return to their family estate, Las Sabinas, to care for their ailing father. “We’re all born in a place and into a family. Places, like families, try to show their goodness and struggle to hide their secrets and miseries,” says a voiceover in the novela, which is “the story of a place, a family and truth,” the narrator continues. Add to that romance one sister falls in love with her childhood sweetheart and a strong sense of melodrama. Disney+’s first soap in Spain, a ratings hit produced by Banijay’s Diagonal TV, a specialist in free-to-air soaps, and shot naturally enough in gorgeous verdant countryside north of Barcelona. “Valle Salvaje,” (Netflix/RTVE, Spain) From “Grand Hotel” through “Velvet” and “Cable Girls,” Studiocanal-owned Bambú Producciones in Spain has carved out an international reputation creating modern gender-agenda melodramas which do viewers proud by their extraordinary production values. After “The Vow,” another near prime time quality soap again exec produced by Bambú’s Josep M. Cister, “Valle Salvaje” is Netflix’s first telenovela produced in Spain. 1763, Luisa, a charitable but spirited young woman leaves Madrid for an arranged marriage in the mountains in the North. There, of course, true love and scheming antogonists await. Miniseries “Amar Singh Chamkila,” (Netflix, Window Seat Films, Mohit Chadary, Select Media Holdings, Saregama) The feature-length biopic of Punjabi musician Amar Singh Chamkila (Diljit Dosanjh), who rose from obscurity to becoming the most sought-after performer in the region. His lyrics, rooted in rural Punjabi life, were also written off as vulgar, prompting ire from religious and political groups and death threats. His assassination in 1988 remains unsolved.” Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the Netflix original film proved a hit for the streamer, bowing at No. 1 across South Asia and No. 5 on its global non-English Top 10 chart. “Herhaussen The Banker and the Bomb,” (Sperl Film, Germany) A Cold War thriller framing one of the biggest true crime murder cases of modern times, starring “Dark’s” Oliver Masucci as Alfred Herrhausen, appointed chairman of Deutsche Bank. A visionary banker, he advocated debt relief to the world’s poorest countries and a government-backed loan to the Soviet Union to open up their markets. He was assassinated in 1989, killed by a roadside bomb. His death, producer Gabriela Sperl tells Variety, was hushed up. Sold by Fremantle, a bold move into premium series by Europe’s biggest broadcaster ARD, and an applauded best screenplay winner (Thomas Wendrich) at Series Mania. “Lost Boys & Fairies,” (Duck Soup Films, U. K.) Set in Cardiff, a tender and possibly tear-jerking drama showing a longtime gay couple, happy with their life and finally getting ready to adopt a child. This big step will force, however, at least one of them seemingly fearless drag artist Gabriel (Sion Daniel Young, joined by Fra Fee as Andy) to revisit painful memories that marked his childhood following his mother’s passing. Produced by Duck Soup Films for BBC One (in association with All3Media International), created by Daf James, taking on all the biggest themes in his first script: love, redemption and parenting. The joy of queer culture permeates the show that somehow finds humor in heartbreak. “Victory or Death,” (MGM Amazon Studios, Parox, Chile) The facts-based story of Cecilia Magni Camino, alias Comandante Tamara, and Raúl Alejandro Pellegrin Friedmann, “Rodrigo,” who launched in 1986 the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR), an armed guerrilla unit aiming at overthrowing Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. Part of MGM Amazon Studios’ embrace of more action fare and the latest from Chile’s Parox, headed by Sergio Gándara and Leonora González, one of the bastions of Chilean TV production often with large political and social point from 2008’s “General Mishima” through 2019’s “Invisible Heroes” to 2023’s “Allende, the Thousand Days.“.
https://variety.com/2025/tv/global/international-emmy-awards-david-tennant-alex-hassell-1236585804/
