News

Munich, 11 October 2011. The TV series BORGIA about the notorious Renaissance-era papal clan has beaten all ratings records in France and Italy. The series gave the French broadcaster Canal+ its far-and-away best viewer ratings of all time. The pay-TV channel aired the first of the series’ six episodes yesterday, which was seen by 1.7 million viewers. On Italy’s pay-TV channel Sky Cinema BORGIA was the best running series of the year. The already outstanding ratings continued to increase until the final episode last Friday, which had double the amount of viewers as at the beginning of the airing. Created by Tom Fontana, BORGIA is being launched by ZDF in Germany next week and will be followed by the premieres in Spain, the U.S., Israel, Latin America, Japan and Russia. The most expensive European series ever has already been sold to more than 40 countries to date.
BORGIA stands for betrayal, intrigues and corruption in the Vatican, which was the center of the world at that time. Rodrigo Borgia, the later Pope Alexander VI, embodied like few others the spirit of the Renaissance with its nearly unimaginable contradictions. In a world marked by murder and bloodshed on the one hand, and by profound faith and hope for redemption on the other, he recognizes the deficits of the Church, but is also possessed by a boundless lust for power for himself and his family. Starring under the direction of Acadamy Award nominee Oliver Hirschbiegel (“Downfall”) are John Doman (“The Wire”), Assumpta Serna (“Matador”), Isolda Dychauk (“Faust”), Art Malik (“True Lies”) and Udo Kier (“Halloween”) among others. BORGIA was produced by Atlantique Productions, EOS Entertainment, Canal+ and Etic Films in association with ZDF and ORF.