BBC Greenlights Landmark Pompeii Documentary Series From ‘Secrets Of The Saqqara Tomb’ Producer Lion TV

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC has greenlit a landmark documentary series spotlighting a once-in-a-generation Pompeii dig from Secrets Of The Saqqara Tomb producer Lion TV.

All3Media-owned Lion has gained access to a huge excavation taking place on the site of the former ancient city, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius around 2,000 years ago.

In the BBC’s Pompeii, present-day discoveries about the Roman world will be combined with a ‘ticking clock’ narrative told through the stories of real individuals from history who witnessed the ancient disaster. “We don’t know what [the dig] will find but we do know the BBC wants new ways of hearing these stories,” said Richard Bradley, Chief Creative Officer of Lion.

Bradley said buyers are seeking docs with “cinematic and dramatic elements” that eschew a Western gaze, pointing to the positive reaction elicited by Lion’s 2020 feature film Secrets Of The Saqqara Tomb, which followed a team of Egyptian archeologists as they discover a tomb from the 25th century BC in a necropolis. “The old factual grammar of presenter-led, narration-heavy storytelling is gone,” he added. “You need to take viewers on a journey of discovery.” In a similar vein, Lion is working on anAlexander the Great docudrama for Netflix and another undisclosed project for the streamer, along with the BBC’s My Caribbean with Liz Bonnin [w/t], in which the natural history presenter returns to her Caribbean roots  to reveal the exotic wildlife and remarkable people of the region.