Mumbai: Having announced their co-production partnership last year where the two companies plan to combine their "Western and Eastern sensibilities" to develop new scripted projects for the global market, Nippon TV - Japan’s multiplatform entertainment powerhouse and Envision Entertainment - the London-based content production company on Tuesday announced their first project together entitled - "Connected."

"Connected" is an innovative crime drama series taking place largely online, perfect for today’s world defined by hybrid communication. The concept was inspired by Nippon TV’s successful scripted series "Double Booking," produced and broadcast in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, and the same production team led by Nippon TV's creative director Itaru Mizuno is participating in this project, said the statement.

The worldwide format rights for "Connected" will be offered for the first time at the upcoming Series Mania Forum with a special showcase set for 22 March in Lille.

“What we believe is strong about 'Connected' is its relatability you may see in young fresh heroes and their struggles, not necessarily charismatic but charming, and that is how these multilayered and globally expanding stories are told through online and offline world just like how we experience these days," commented Nippon TV business producer for international business development Sayako Aoki. "We will be thrilled to see Japanese 'episode zero' lead to UK version and to numerous more opportunities, diversifying the universe invented through this East-West collaboration."  

The Japanese version of "Connected" will air in Japan on Nippon TV in April. Envision Entertainment and Nippon TV are simultaneously in advanced development for a UK version of the series, which is set in the same shared universe.

“We are immensely proud of our work with Nippon TV on 'Connected,' an infinitely flexible crime format which can combine stories in any number of languages and territories in an unobtrusive and believable way," said Envision Entertainment chief content officer Michael Nakan. "Our unique approach to hybrid communication between characters is a million miles away from forced 'Europudding' co-productions and offers a genuinely seamless opportunity to tell stories with local resonance and international scale. We look forward to working with partners around the world to develop a truly global group of homebound detectives.”