Canal+’s wildly ambitious French TV series The Sentinels, which combines superhero, steampunk and sci-fi themes with a World War I action drama, has taken hold in the UK
The series was acquired by the BBC in a deal with Studiocanal. The series is produced by Federation Studios France and Esprits Frappeurs and was already simultaneously released last year by Canal+ in more than 30 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Based on the comic series Sentinel by Xavier Delison and Enrique Brescia (edited by Delcourt), Sentinel is produced in collaboration with Guillaume Lemain and Xabi Moria, written by Guillaume Lemain, Moria and Raphael Richet, and directed by Thierry Poirot and Edouard Salier.
The story takes place at the outbreak of World War I, when a severely wounded soldier named Gabriel Ferrer is selected for a secret French military-led research program aimed at creating an entirely new type of combatant. Gabriel is injected with a mysterious serum and is granted unprecedented abilities. Now he joins an elite force of enhanced soldiers known as Sentinels, who are stronger, faster, and more resistant than the average human. But he soon comes face to face with a terrifying reality that could change the course of the war.
The series is produced by Lionel Huzan and Thierry Sorel of Federation Studio France, and Delphine Clotte and Guillaume Leman of Esprit Flappers.
In addition to the unprecedented Canal+ rollout, the series was also broadcast in Australia (SBS), Belgium (BeTV), Benelux (Play Media), Germany (ProSieben), Canada (TV5), Denmark (DR), Greece (NOVA), Portugal (NOS), Spain (Disney), Turkey (Tivibu) and sold to more than 60 territories around the world.
The Sentinels will premiere in the UK exclusively on BBC iPlayer and BBC Four later this year.
