BBC Four acquires The Slap
BBC Four have acquired The Slap from Matchbox Pictures and ABC TV, to air later this year.
An adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ bestselling novel, the eight-part series reflects the novel’s chapters, with eight different story view points of the repercussions of a man slapping a child who’s not his own at a summer BBQ. The first two eipisodes of The Slap premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Richard Klein, Controller, BBC Four says, “The book was a runaway success and I’m pleased to bring this very well made tale of our times to the channel. It reflects BBC Four’s desire to bring viewers the best programming from around the world and its focus on social contemporary issues will bring a different tone to the channel.”
Matchbox Pictures Producer Helen Bowden told Encore, “It will be first released on the ABC here then will be overseas. The book was extremely well received in the UK; it’s already sold nearly half a million copies.”
Bowden added in a statement, “BBC 4 is notable for first showing Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords and, more recently, The Killing in the UK, so we are very proud to be in that company.”
Carole Sklan, Head of ABC TV Fiction said, “The Slap is a compelling portrayal of contemporary family, friendship, parenting and relationships. The ABC is delighted that this creatively ambitious Australian drama series is receiving international recognition.”
“We worked quite closely with Christos,” Bowden told Encore. “We had a writers’ table of five writers and we spent three weeks together nutting out the arc of each episode and of the whole series and he was consulted on the scripts and on the casting, he looked at various cuts of the series – he was very involved.”
Read the upcoming September issue of Encore Magazine for a full interview with both Helen Bowden and show runner Tony Ayres.
