Mike Gunton, executive producer of the series and director of factual for BBC Studios Natural History Unit, tells TV Real Weekly about the scientific research behind the new season, the technology used to bring these animals to life like never before and what Tom Hiddleston’s voice lends to the episodes.

With U.S. Hispanic audiences over-indexing in FAST usage, FAST Festival delegates will hear from Karsten Amlie, senior VP of content distribution and general counsel at Canela Media, about serving the needs of this demographic.

Brian Volk-Weiss, CEO of The Nacelle Company, shares how his indie has developed a multiplatform ecosystem for its content, including rolling out the popular Comedy Dynamics FAST channel curated from its library of stand-up performances.

A veteran of the global pay-TV channels business, Chris Sharp shares how wedotv is curating a slate of channels for its AVOD platform.

On the heels of Shout! Studios’ merger with FilmRise, Garson Foos, CEO of Radial Entertainment, weighs in on digital distribution opportunities for the combined independent outfit.

pocket.watch has expanded its franchise-building flywheel to also include FAST channels; the company’s chief content officer, Albie Hecht, will speak at the FAST Festival about how the outfit approaches curating its digital-first content slate for a linear, lean-back viewing experience.

Exploring All3Media International’s approach to windowing, curation and more, FAST Festival delegates will hear from Gary Woolf, executive VP of strategic development, and Amanda Stevens, senior VP of global digital partnerships.

Kasia Jablonska, director of digital and on-demand for EMEA at BBC Studios, joins the FAST Festival to share how the IP powerhouse is capitalizing on its deep library to find new ways to engage with audiences.

Marcos Milanez, chief content officer at Rakuten TV, returns to the FAST Festival to share his programming strategy across FAST, on-demand and TVOD.

James Ross, CEO, will share with FAST Festival delegates how Lightning International is navigating the crowded European FAST landscape and finding new expansion opportunities across the Asia Pacific.

The third edition of the FAST Festival kicks off with a conversation with Olivier Jollet, executive VP and international general manager of Pluto TV, on scaling the platform’s global presence, channel curation and the importance of partnerships.

Apple TV+’s period drama The Buccaneers, based on an unfinished novel by Edith Wharton, has returned with a second season. The series centers on five wealthy American women who travel to London in the 1870s to find husbands and titles. A new episode is bowing on the streamer every Wednesday through August 6.

The star-studded ensemble cast features Kristine Frøseth, Alisha Boe, Josh Dylan, Barney Fishwick, Aubri Ibrag, Guy Remmers, Josie Totah, Imogen Waterhouse, Christina Hendricks and many more, with new faces such as Jacob Ifan joining for the new season.

A selection of cast members, writer Katherine Jakeways, executive producer Beth Willis and producer Joe Innes sat down with TV Drama Weekly to talk about what viewers can expect from the storylines in season two.

Acclaimed mystery and thriller author Dennis Lehane (Shutter Island, Mystic River) returned to screenwriting with Apple TV+’s Smoke, a nine-part crime drama inspired by the true story of arsonist John Leonard Orr. The series follows as a young detective and an experienced arson investigator team up to stop two serial arsonists in the Pacific Northwest.

The cast is led by Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett, joined by the likes of Greg Kinnear, Adina Porter, John Leguizamo, Anna Chlumsky and more, whose characters aid or impede the course of the investigation.
 
Leguizamo, who stars as an alcoholic former detective who used to work with the lead arson investigator, and Chlumsky, who plays a federal ATF agent, tell TV Drama Weekly about their characters and what it was like working from a Lehane script.

The Outlander screen franchise has expanded to include the prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood, which is now airing on STARZ every Friday. The new series goes back in time to tell the love stories of Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp’s parents.

The cast features Harriet Slater and Jamie Roy as Ellen and Brian, Fraser’s parents, and Hermione Corfield and Jeremy Irvine as Julia and Henry, Beauchamp’s parents. The ten-episode first season details how the couples came together in their respective time periods—and how their lives may have intersected with the help of time travel.
 
Showrunner and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts and executive producer Maril Davis sat down with TV Drama Weekly to discuss author Diana Gabaldon’s hand in the new series and the ways in which Blood of My Blood retains the magic of Outlander while being its own unique show.

Tastemade’s Kitchen Glow Up is back with a second season on August 26, returning after its filming schedule was disrupted by the L.A. fires in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades in early 2025 that burned through over 34,000 acres of land.

Despite these circumstances, host Ellen Bennett, also CEO of Hedley & Bennett, plowed forward with the show’s main goal—helping everyday people give their kitchens a glow up without breaking the bank—while also helping out her mother, who lost her home almost immediately when the fires broke out, and other evacuees of the natural disaster.

Bennett and Patrick Weiland, president of Intuitive Content and executive producer of the series, sat down with TV Real Weekly to talk about the challenges of filming in the aftermath of the L.A. fires and the global appeal of season two. Bennett also shares what drove her to continue working despite the harrowing external circumstances.

The second edition of the FAST Festival will kick off with a spotlight on how distributors with significant libraries are approaching channel curation with BBC Studios’ Beth Anderson, ITV Studios’ Graham Haigh and All3Media International’s Amanda Stevens.

Amid a wealth of AVOD services and FAST channels for movies, VA Media’s Mark Ashbridge, Candlelight Media Group’s Scott Wiscombe and Nicely Entertainment’s Scott Kirkpatrick will offer their views on curation, cutting through the clutter and opportunities for originals.

Marcos Milanez, chief content officer at Rakuten TV, will showcase how the service is driving AVOD usage across Europe with its slate of acquired fare and originals.

This genre spotlight on opportunities for kids’ IP owners in the FAST space will hear insights from WildBrain’s Lara Ilie, 9 Story Media Group’s Elianne Friend and pocket.watch’s Corinna Fisher.

As senior VP of international content programming and acquisitions, Katrina Kowalski leads Pluto TV’s strategy for serving viewers in markets outside the U.S.

Led by chairman and CEO Chris McGurk, Cineverse is driving gains with its assortment of streaming services, FAST channels and new search and discoverability tools.

On the heels of its U.K. launch, Tubi’s executive VP and managing director for international, David Salmon, will outline the AVOD platform’s global growth opportunity.

James Ross, the CEO of Lightning International, will discuss the traction the company is seeing with its genre-based FAST channels, including services across music, movies, documentaries and news.

What are independent platforms looking for in content partnerships? This session will deliver that intelligence from Plex’s Scott Olechowski, wedotv’s Philipp Rotermund and Free TV Networks’ Thanasis Tsiris.

Chase Brisbin, Lionsgate’s recently promoted executive VP of international SVOD sales and head of global channels, will showcase how the independent studio is tapping into its extensive library in the FAST space.