UK financier and distirbutor expands partnership with Alice Roberts on The Land That Made Us

US-focused streamer BBC Select and SBS in Australia have partnered with Channel 4 on an Alice Roberts-fronted docuseries that has been created and funded via UK-based BossaNova Media.

The Land That Made Us (6 x 60 minutes) is produced by Tectonic Productions - the label established by Roberts and collaborators Dom Bowles and Theo Williams - and will be launched to buyers at Mipcom next month.

The series is in production and will follow Roberts as she travels across Britain to explore how geology and landscape have shaped communities and regional identities.

The show marks the latest collaboration between Roberts, Bowles and Williams, who previously worked together on BBC series Digging for Britain and developed Fortress Britain for C4 in 2022.

Bossanova, which originated, financed and pre-sold the series, has bene expanding its partnership with Roberts over recent years having produced shows such as Secret of the Lost Grail and the By Train franchise.

Paul Heaney, chief exec of Bossanova, said the show reflected how his company is “moving much further up the food chain in terms of how we fully cashflow and originate a show and its development.”

He continued: “Alice Roberts came to us directly with her favourite showrunners saying ‘I want to make this’. We represent a slate of Alice’s shows and with her authority and intelligence, coupled with her distinctive warmth and clarity, they immediately have universal appeal.

“As soon as it was pitched at last year’s Development Day, we knew this was a case of when, not if it would be greenlit. Channel 4 have been fantastic partners all the way through the process and we fully expect this series - having seen the brilliant result - to be a must-watch success.”