(Paris) Independent TV production company Pernel Media today announces that French DTT channel RMC Découverte has ordered a second season of its ground-breaking factual series ‘Monumental Revelations’ (known internationally by the title of ‘Ancient Superstructures’), which takes a unique approach in delving into engineering mysteries behind some of the world’s largest and most famous ancient structures.
The new 4 x 60’ season will reveal the secrets behind structures including the Taj Mahal mausoleum in India, the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia and the Hagia Sophia cathedral in Turkey. Each episode explores the history and secrets of the landmarks by observing them from different perspectives of scale – from satellite imagery from space and aerial views right down to macro and microscopic levels. From each perspective, ‘Monumental Revelations’ reveals data that helps shed new light on invisible historical and construction enigmas that have baffled historians for years.
ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE), the sales arm of German public broadcaster ZDF, has again picked up distribution rights for ‘Ancient Superstructures’ season two in all territories outside France and the UK and will be presenting the series to buyers to Cannes in Mipcom this month. The company also distributes the first season of the show.
Stéphane Sallé de Chou, Guenaëlle Troly and Séverine Gourinchas formed the commissioning team for RMC Découverte. Samuel Kissous is Executive Producer for Pernel Media.
“We are delighted to have received a commission for a second season of ‘Monumental Revelations’, which will again take a unique look at some of the world’s most fascinating structures in astonishing detail,” said Samuel Kissous, President of Pernel Media.
The first season of ‘Monumental Revelations’ received record ratings on RMC Découverte, including the Mont-Saint-Michel episode which was one of the highest-rated programmes in its time slot on the channel last year, with 761,000 viewers/2.9% market share.
The second season of the show is the latest RMC Decouverte commission for Pernel Media, which has also produced four seasons of ‘Wheeler Dealers France’ and ‘France’s Record-Breaking Bridges’ for the French broadcast network.
One of France’s leading factual producers, Pernel is behind other major series including ‘20 Years on Death Row’ for 13ème Rue and UKTV, ‘Extreme Lands’ for France 5 and major hit docu-drama series ‘The Real War of Thrones: A History of Europe’ for France 5, which has sold to more than 35 territories worldwide. The company is also currently producing the landmark documentary series ‘Secrets of the Pyramid Builders’ exploring one of the greatest engineering projects in the history of humanity: the construction of the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza.
