The BBC Showcase – the world’s largest international TV market to be hosted by a single distributor and attended by over 700 of the world’s biggest TV buyers – started off in Liverpool on February 22.

It was a busy Monday for both the buyers who attended premier screenings covering drama, natural history, music, comedy, science, history, documentaries, formats and factual entertainment and also for journalists who had the chance to meet with some of BBC’s senior executives and take interviews from some of the poplar hosts and actors attending the event.

Following his meetings with Nick Percy and Grant Welland, CEETV’s Yako Molhov also took part in several roundtables that included the presentation of new series Fishing Impossible which will air on BBC Earth this year – the show features 3 guys of various backgrounds who each week go to an extreme location and set to each other almost impossible tasks. Some of the countries where the show was shot include Peru, South Africa, Kenya, Norway, Argentina; etc.

CEETV also met with AMC Networks’ Laszlo Gaspar who is buying content for the company’s documentary, cooking and lifestyle channels (Spectrum, TV Paprika and Spektrum Home). Gaspar revealed that AMC Networks plans to expand its portfolio of channels in some neighboring countries but declined to comment which. He also revealed that BBCW content was one of the most expensive in their catalogue.

The meetings in Day 1 continued with a roundtable with Wendy Darke – Head of BBC’s Natural History Unit. Darke talked about BBC’s flagship natural history projects like Planet Earth and also revealed details about these major projects which take up to 4 years to make. In 2016 the company will present Planet Earth 2 – fall 2016; in 2017 – Oceans; in 2018 – Dynasties (show about animals) and in 2019/2020 – 7 Worlds. The BBC also presented a short experiment with VR during the Showcase. Darke also noted that not the world has become much more engaged, i.e. FB, Twitter, Instagram and she follows people’s reactions. The unit is also considering doing shortform digital content. When asked about the budgets of projects like Planet Earth, Darke commented that they were in the range of an entry feature film.