ITV Studios announced on Tuesday that it has acquired a majority stake in Moonage Pictures, one of the UK’s fastest-growing luxury drama producers, including Global Hits the Gentlemen and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
Moonage Pictures was founded in 2018 by Will Gould, Matthew Read and Frith Tiplady. The name is inspired by David Bowie’s song “Moonage Daydream.”
The Gentleman, directed by Guy Richie, debuted as a top Netflix show and became one of 2024’s most viewed television shows.
Other production credits include Bodies starring Stephen Graham on Netflix. Emily Mortimer’s adaptation of the pursuit of love for BBC One and Amazon. Five of the BBC’s famous works were co-created with Nicolas Winding Refn. Sky One curfew. Netflix’s obsession. The SCI-FI series is Sky One’s intergalactic.
Moonage also recently began adapting Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusas’s epic novel The Leopard for Netflix.
The company is already working on the second season for Gentlemen, Good Girls Guide for Murder, and the famous five.
As part of the acquisition, BBC Studios will terminate its interest in Moonage and will continue to distribute return series such as Good Girl’s Guide to The Murder and The Famous Five. International distribution of the New Moonage Pictures series is handled by ITV Studios.
“We’re a great fan of the world,” said Julian Bellamy, managing director of ITV Studios. “They are an incredibly talented team and I feel incredibly lucky that they are in the ITV studio. I can’t wait to work with them.”
“We’re committed to providing a great opportunity to help you,” said Frith Tiplady, managing director at Moonage. “I love every moment of the past seven years. I work with exceptional writers, directors and production teams to create a job that we are extremely proud of. It was a real adventure.
ITV is focused on expanding its international content business. This includes recent acquisitions by drama producers Eagle Eye Drama, Heartwood Films, Key Street Productions by Nicola Schindler, Happy Prince, Dominic Red Well Collins, Ben Stephenson’s Poison Pen Studios, Premium Natural History and Facts Entertainment Producer Prim Productions.
