Ecosse Films Begins Production on New Original Drama Series, MEADOWLANDS, for Showtime and Channel 4

Ecosse Films Begins Production on New Original Drama Series, MEADOWLANDS, for Showtime and Channel 4

Eight Episode Series Begins Production in England for Summer 2007 Premiere on Showtime

NEW YORK, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Showtime Networks Inc. and the UK's Channel 4 have commissioned Ecosse Films to produce a new original eight- episode drama series entitled MEADOWLANDS (Cape Wrath in the UK). Production of the series will begin this month in England and will premiere in the U.S. on SHOWTIME in the summer of 2007.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060131/SHOWTIMELOGO )

Starring British actors David Morrissey ("The Deal," "State of Play," "Viva: Blackpool") and Lucy Cohu ("The Queen's Sister," "Becoming Jane"), MEADOWLANDS focuses on a family trying to escape its past while confronting an even more uncertain future. The series picks up as Danny (MORRISSEY) and Evelyn Brogan (COHU) along with their two teenage kids enter a witness protection program and are moved to a bucolic neighborhood (MEADOWLANDS) to begin a new life. Picturesque and crime-free, MEADOWLANDS appears to be a suburban paradise where the Brogan family can begin to start a new life. But they soon realize that it's not so easy to escape the past and their safe haven becomes a world of paranoia and psychological intrigue with surprises around every corner.

"I am pleased to be partnering with Channel 4 on this truly original series," said Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. "This show is sexy, mysterious, provocative, and filled with original characters, all of which dovetail with our premium mandate."

Matthew Alridge, Head of Television Development at Ecosse Films stated, "With MEADOWLANDS, we wanted to do something genuinely different. To take the audience to a strange world and tell them a story that was surprising, unsettling and intriguing."

The series is produced by Ecosse Films and was created by Ecosse's Head of Television Development Matthew Alridge and writer Robert Murphy. It is executive produced by Douglas Rae and Alridge and produced by Caroline Levy. Duane Clark, a prominent American television director ("CSI," "Jericho," "Medium") will helm his first UK drama.

MEADOWLANDS joins SHOWTIME'S slate of original, cutting edge programming including critically-acclaimed and award-winning series such as DEXTER, starring Michael C. Hall as a serial killer who kills criminals who may have fallen through the justice system; WEEDS, starring Mary Louise Parker as a soccer mom who sells pot in the suburbs to make ends meet; BROTHERHOOD, about two brothers on opposite sides of the law in a working-class neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island; SLEEPER CELL, an acclaimed ongoing miniseries about a terrorist cell in Los Angeles; and the upcoming series THE TUDORS starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as young King Henry VIII.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL(TM) and FLIX(R), as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME(R) TOO(TM), SHOWTIME(R) SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME(R), SHOWTIME BEYOND(R), SHOWTIME NEXT(R), SHOWTIME WOMEN(R), SHOWTIME FAMILYZONE(R) and TMC XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD(R), THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD(TM), SHOWTIME ON DEMAND(TM) and THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND(TM). SNI is also an owner and manager of SUNDANCE CHANNEL, a venture of NBC Universal, Robert Redford and SNI. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME(R) PPV.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060131/SHOWTIMELOGO
Source: Showtime Networks Inc.

CONTACT: Jackie Ioachim, +1-212-708-1220, Jackie.ioachim@showtime.net,
or Frank Marchesini, +1-310-234-5342, frank.machesini@showtime.net, both of
SHOWTIME

Web site: http://www.sho.com/

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