 The Carnival Films logo used from 2017 | |
| Carnival Films | |
| Formerly |
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| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Television production |
| Founded | 3 November 1978; 46 years ago (1978-11-03) |
| Founder |
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Key people |
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| Products |
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| Parent |
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| Website | carnivalfilms |
Carnival Film & Television Limited,[1][2]trading asCarnival Films, is a Britishproduction company based in London, UK, founded on 3 November 1978. It has produced television series for all the major UK networks including theBBC,ITV,Channel 4, andSky UK, as well as international broadcasters includingPBS,A&E,HBO andNBC. Productions include single dramas, long-running television dramas, feature films, and stage productions.
Carnival Films was founded in 1978 by feature film producerBrian Eastman.
As of 2014, Carnival has produced over 500 hours of drama and comedy for television, cinema and stage. This included 70 episodes ofAgatha Christie's Poirot starringDavid Suchet and 22 episodes ofRosemary & Thyme, starringFelicity Kendal andPam Ferris. In the action/adventure genre it producedBUGS,Oktober andThe Grid, in comedy drama it producedJeeves and Wooster starringHugh Laurie andStephen Fry, teenage drama-comedyAs If, as well as the adaptations ofTom Sharpe's novelsBlott on the Landscape andPorterhouse Blue.
In 2004, the BBC's former Head of Drama CommissioningGareth Neame joined Carnival as managing director.[3] In 2007, former Creative Director of BBC Drama Sally Woodward Gentle joined the company as Creative Director. The two had previously worked together onSpooks (MI:5),Tipping the Velvet andCambridge Spies.
In 2007 Australian production companySouthern Star acquired 75% percent of Carnival Films but by 2008 the company was acquired by American-basedNBCUniversal as part of its plan to increase its presence in content creation outside the United States.[4] Following several more acquisitions Carnival is now part of NBCUniversal International Television Production alongside newer additions Monkey Kingdom,Working Title Television, Chocolate Media and Lucky Giant in the UK, Lark in Canada and Matchbox Pictures in Australia.[5][6]
Under the direction of Gareth Neame, Carnival has produced series such as;The Philanthropist for NBC; hit BBC seriesHotel Babylon; the television filmsEnid starringHelena Bonham Carter andMatthew Macfadyen;Page Eight starringBill Nighy,Rachel Weisz,Michael Gambon andRalph Fiennes; four-part dramaAny Human Heart starringJim Broadbent,Matthew MacFadyen,Hayley Atwell andKim Cattrall;The Hollow Crown, a BBC adaptation of Shakespeare's history plays starringTom Hiddleston,Ben Whishaw andJeremy Irons;The Last Weekend, a three-part adaptation ofBlake Morrison's novel;Whitechapel for ITV;Jamestown andStan Lee's Lucky Man for Sky One;The Last Kingdom for BBC One and Netflix;Belgravia for ITV1 and Epix;Belgravia: The Next Chapter for MGM+; andThe Day Of The Jackal starringEddie Redmayne andLashana Lynch for Sky and Peacock. Carnival are also producing upcoming dramasLockerbie: A Search For Truth starringColin Firth andAll Her Fault starringSarah Snook.
Carnival's biggest hit, both critically and commercially, isDownton Abbey, written and co-produced byJulian Fellowes.[7] The final episode of the TV series aired on 25 December 2015. In 2016, Neame and Fellowes started planning a feature adaptation; it was officially confirmed in July 2018 and filming began later that month.Downton Abbey was released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019 by Universal Pictures, and in the United States on 20 September 2019 by Focus Features. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $194 million worldwide. The sequel,Downton Abbey: A New Era, was released in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2022, and in the United States on 20 May 2022. A third film was announced in May 2024, and will be released in September 2025.[8]
Carnival Films has won a wide variety of awards for its work on Television, Film and Stage productions. With the company itself winning the 'Best Independent Production Company' award at both the Televisual Magazine Bulldog Awards 2011,[17] and the Broadcast Awards 2012.[18]In addition Carnival's productions have together been awarded nine Primetime Emmy Awards;[19] one Golden Globe;[20] nineteen BAFTAs;[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] one Screen Actors Guild Award;[29] aProducers Guild of America Award;[30] two National Television Award;[31] three International Emmy Awards;[32] five RTS awards;[33][34][35] four BANFF Rockie Awards;[36] three Ivor Novello Awards;[37] two Broadcast awards;[18] a Bulldog award; an Evening Standard Theatre Award; and a Tony.[38]
Further to this success the company's productions have also received nominations from such varied awards bodies as the Academy Awards,[39] the Laurence Olivier Awards, The Monte Carlo International Television Festival,[40] The Screen Actors Guild,[41] The American Society of Cinematographers,[42] The Edgar Allan Poe Awards,[43] The Rose D’Or[44] and The San Sebastian Film Festival.[45]
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