| Formerly | |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | |
| Founded | July 2007; 18 years ago (July 2007)[2] |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | , England |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Parent | Sony Pictures Television International Production (2012–present) |
| Website | leftbankpictures |
Left Bank Pictures Ltd.[1] (stylised asLEFT BANK Pictures) is a British film and television production company owned bySony Pictures Television through its International Production division. It was formed in 2007[2] and was the first British media company to receive investment fromBBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of theBBC.
Left Bank Pictures' productions include the television seriesWallander,Strike Back,DCI Banks andOutlander. Their productionThe Crown is the first British-American television series produced exclusively forNetflix. The series' first season was released on 4 November 2016.
Left Bank Pictures was founded in 2007 byAndy Harries, formerly controller of drama, comedy and film atGranada Productions, Francis Hopkinson and Marigo Kehoe.[2] The company was the first British media company to receive equity investment fromBBC Worldwide, the commercial venture of theBBC. BBC Worldwide took a 25% stake, worth £1 million, in Left Bank in exchange for first-look distribution rights on all television productions,[3] in a five-year deal.[4]
In December 2008, Left Bank Pictures was one of many independent production companies to receive the production vision award from theUK Film Council.[5] The award part-funded Left Bank's film development slate. In February 2009, Suzanne Mackie, formerly head of development at Harbour Pictures, joined the company as head of film.[6]
Hopkinson announced his departure in 2011 to take up a new position withITV Studios. Michael Casey joined the company, taking on the development slate, and Simon Lupton joined the comedy department.[7] The company was put up for sale for £40 million on 6 April 2012.[4][8] On 5 July 2012,Sony Pictures Television made a deal to acquire Left Bank for £40 million.[9] The sale was completed on 23 August 2012, with SPT becoming the majority shareholder, and BBC Worldwide, Harries and Kehoe reducing their stake in the company. BBC Worldwide reduced its stake from 25% to 12.2%.[10]
Left Bank Pictures' first television commission wasWallander, a television adaptation ofHenning Mankell'sKurt Wallander novels. The first series was filmed on location inSkåne,Sweden in the summer of 2008, and broadcast in November and December 2008.[11] The series won theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series.[12] The BBC announced the commissioning of a second series in May 2009.[13] Filming ran over the summer again and the series was broadcast in January 2010. The final series as broadcast in 2016.
In March 2008, it was announced that Left Bank would be producingStrike Back, a six-part series forSky One based onChris Ryan's novel.[14] The production, starringRichard Armitage andAndrew Lincoln, was filmed on location in South Africa in 2009 for broadcast on Sky1 and Sky1 HD in 2010.[15] Also in 2008, Left Bank produced its first feature film;The Damned United was directed byTom Hooper from a script adapted byPeter Morgan fromDavid Peace's novelThe Damned Utd.
2008 also saw Left Bank's first commission forChannel 4;Kids School of Comedy, a pilot sketch show, was produced for theComedy Lab strand, and was based on a stage show in which Andy Harries' son performed. A six-partSchool of Comedy series was commissioned byE4 and was broadcast in 2009.[16] A second series has since been commissioned. At the end of 2008, Left Bank received its first commission fromITV, to produceFrank Deasy's four-part serial dramaFather & Son.[17] The drama was co-financed by ITV, the Irish broadcasterRTÉ and the Irish Film Board. The production was based in Dublin, where most of the programme was filmed, even though it was set in Manchester, England.[18] RTÉ broadcast the drama in 2009, and it went on to win theIrish Film and Television Award for Best Single Drama/Drama Serial category.[19] It was broadcast onITV1 in June 2010.
In 2009, Left Bank produced the six-part romantic comedy seriesMarried Single Other for ITV.[20] The series starsRalf Little,Shaun Dooley,Lucy Davis,Miranda Raison,Amanda Abbington andDean Lennox Kelly, and was filmed on location inLeeds. It was broadcast on ITV1 in February and March 2010.[21][22] In 2010, Left Bank produced an adaptation ofPeter Robinson'sAftermath for ITV, starringStephen Tompkinson as DCI Banks,[23][24] andZen, an adaptation of three ofMichael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen novels, which was filmed on location in Italy for BBC Scotland.[25] In 2011, Sky1 broadcast the first series of Left Bank'sMad Dogs, starringJohn Simm,Philip Glenister,Marc Warren andMax Beesley. In 2012Optimum Releasing distributed the feature filmAll in Good Time.[26][27]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
