Electronic Media
October 19, 1992
SECTION: Pg. 10
LENGTH: 507 words
HEADLINE: Thames teaches English to Reeves' 'Covington'
BYLINE: By THOMAS TYRER; Staff reporter
BODY:
When New York-based Reeves Entertainment decided to produce its
new ABC
adventure series ''Covington Cross'' on location in Kent, England, it
found
an ally in British parent Thames Television.
Set in medieval England but featuring characters with contemporary
attitudes, ''Covington Cross'' is a ''quasi international co-
production''
between Reeves and Thames, says Richard Reisberg, Reeves' president
and
chief operating officer.
London-based Thames not only pays the mostly English cast and crew
that work
on the show, but also alerts ''Covington's'' U.S. producers to
mistakes they
sometimes make in depicting British culture.
For instance, the original title of the series was ''Charing Cross,''
but it
was changed after Thames executives explained that was also the name
of a
squalid English subway station.
But even with Thames' input on English history, the U.S. producers
have
sometimes sacrificed accuracy for artistic license.
That's raised the ire of some British viewers, ''Covington Cross''
executive
producer Gil Grant says.
Thames commissioned a special 80-minute version of the ''Covington
Cross''
pilot which, on Aug. 31, turned in a 39 share on Thames' ITV channel.
However, the series provoked angry letters from some ITV viewers,
with one
woman complaining about inaccuracies such as women riding horses
unattended
and noblemen speaking English rather than the requisite French.
Shot at Allington Castle near Kent, the program costs roughly $ 1.2
million
per episode to produce, about $ 100,000 less than the U.S. average
for the
same type of show.
Reeves officials say they didn't decide to produce in Europe simply
to get
co-production funding.
''It's not like we have the garden variety cop show and said, 'Hey,
if we
could do this in England, we could probably make more money, so let's
figure
out how to do it in England,''' Mr. Reisberg said.
''We are doing a castle show set in England, and the fact of the
matter is,
we don't have those castles in North Hollywood, and we don't have
this sort
of countryside,'' said Mr. Grant.
''Back in the '60s and '70s you could get away with simply using
(U.S.)
soundstages, but today the audience is much more sophisticated and
expects a
lot more visually.''
ABC has ordered 13 episodes of ''Covington Cross'' to anchor its new
Saturday lineup this fall. For the season to date, the show is tied
for 82nd
out of 98 prime-time series with a 7 rating (percentage of TV
households)
and 13 share (percentage of sets in use) according to Nielsen Media
Research.
Thames Television International offered the show to buyers at MIPCOM
in
Cannes, France, last week.
Reeves, which maintains creative control of the program, collects U.S.
dollars from ABC, which are applied to the show's production costs.
Thames then pays the cast and crew members with British pounds.
''What kills you is the exchange rate,'' Mr. Grant said.
But he added that the depressed state of the English film and TV
industries
has made top cast and crew available at bargain rates.