EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has picked up history doc Days That Shocked The World for EMEA to look back on huge events including Fukushima, Chernobyl and 9/11.
The specials focusing on this trio of disasters have been bought by WBD as the 15th, 40th and 25th anniversaries of these disasters approach respectively. Sky New Zealand has also bought Days that Shocked the World.
Produced by Britespark, Days that Shocked the World revisits the most devastating disasters of the past 40 years, retelling each event through eyewitness testimony and archive footage in one- or two-part anniversary specials. The programmes will air on WBD channels across Europe around the anniversaries, starting in March with the Fukushima edition, and will be available for streaming on discovery+ and HBO Max in select markets. HBO Max is rolling out to more territories over the coming months including the UK.
The series is sold by BossaNova Media, which has also shopped Deadline Global Breakout Ed Gein: Original Psycho to Hearst Networks and DPG. Based on reconstructed transcripts of Gein’s November 1957 confessions, the two-part film brings the interrogation to life using generative AI alongside a performance from an actor portraying the detective who led the case.
BossaNova boss Paul Heaney said: “Getting this calibre of channels onboard now demonstrates the quality of the producers we’re working with, like Britespark. Stories with global resonance that also work locally are the sweet spot for any distributor. Days that Shocked the World has clear global resonance — from 9/11 and Chernobyl to the Concorde crash and Fukushima — events that continue to shape lives today.”
The sales emerged at the London TV Screenings, where BossaNova is one of a number of boutique sales houses putting on events.
