BBC News Online: Entertainment

Moore's the merrier at Mipcom

The 71-year-old actor was surrounded by his female co-stars Traci Bingham, Eva Halina and Angie Everhart, to publicise the DREAM Team at the town's annual Mipcom festival.

Mipcom is Europe's largest television trade show. It provides a five-day shop window for the TV, video cable and satellite industry across the globe.

The DREAM (Dangerous, Recogniscance, Emergency Action Missions) Team - an updated version of the 1970s TV hit Charlie's Angels - is just one of hundreds of programmes available for executives to view.

Established in 1985, Mipcom last year attracted over 2,513 companies from 90 countries over the four days.

This year it looks set to be as big a draw with an impressive catalogue of new dramas, documentaries and animation.

Highlights from the BBC include the star-studded drama Gormenghast - a four-part adaptation of Mervyn Peake's comic fantasy featuring Stephen Fry, Zoe Wanamaker, Christopher Lee and EastEnder June Brown.

Former Avenger Diana Rigg is also in Cannes to promote her new series of the BBC's 1920s whodunnit drama series, the Mrs Bradley Mysteries.

While singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull will be on hand for the screening of Dreaming My Dreams, a documentary on her life presented by the UK's Eagle Rock Entertainment.

It features star interviews with other musical legends such as Rolling Stone Keith Richards. There is also plenty of performance footage, including a song from Faithfull's new album Vagabond Ways.

Animation is always an important at Mipcom and the leading category for youth programming.

More than 407 programmes for younger viewers are being shown in this category this year. Many are established favourites, such as the UK's Bob the Builder from Hit Entertainment.

But many others, such as the French, German and American co-production, The Marx Brothers Show, are brand new.

To bring the brothers back to life, the co-producers assembled a top-notch international team. It included former Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz and Hanna Barbera Productions' European "pen and inking" outfit Orange Studio.

The Marx Brothers in the series are stuck in the film archives of a mogul's studio. But they want to regain their stardom on the silver screen - which inevitably gets them mixed up in all kinds of craziness.

The series, like many of the programmes showcased at Mipcom, will not be ready for release until next year.

Other highlights of the festival, which closes on 8 October, include a special focus day on the burgeoning TV industry in Spain.

There is also a full agenda of talks, conferences and exhibitions, including a special section devoted to convergence between the TV and the Internet.

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