Sanctuary premiers on ITV4

ITV4 has announced that they have acquired the UK premiere of SANCTUARY, a new sci-fi series from the creators of Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis. The 13-part series is based on the world's first high-definition science-fiction Web series and will be the first television series to use live-action actors against mostly virtual sets.

In the one-hour drama, Stargate: SG-1 star Amanda Tapping stars as Dr. Helen Magnus, a 157-year old physician who studies monsters. She is aided in her work by her reluctant protégé, psychiatrist Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne, Species 3, Dawson’s Creek), and her fearless daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup, Battlestar Gallactica). Together they seek to find and help the strange and often frightening creatures that populate their world.

SANCTUARY is the first television series shot almost entirely on green screen with live-action actors using the same cutting-edge style as the feature films 300 and Sin City. The result is an original graphic novel tone that blends detailed 3D backgrounds with live-action and game-style cinematics.

SANCTUARY makes the leap to television from the Internet where it began as the world’s first high-definition sci-fi web series. Within one month of Sanctuary’s online premiere on May 13, 2007, more than 500,000 people had viewed the 20-minute series pilot.

Dr. Magnus is on a mission to finish her father’s work and unlock the secrets behind human evolution using a unique combination of science, medicine and her own knowledge of the supernatural. After becoming entangled in a relationship with a time-travelling murderer and bearing his child, Magnus’s story fast-forwards to the present day where she and her daughter Ashley now operate an underground sanctuary and scientific laboratory that houses the monsters and creatures they capture and study.

Born into a world where monsters are accepted and live in her home, Ashley is both brave and brash. With no patience for her mother’s scientific interjections or Will’s psycho-analytics, she won’t even wait to test out the latest equipment before putting her creature-hunting skills to work. Her approach, to simply fight her way out of tight situations, isn’t fool-proof, but it does have its valid moments.

As a child, Will developed an intense fear of the monsters that hid in his closet, and with good reason. While working as a psychiatrist in a local hospital, Will quickly demonstrates a talent for treating unique patients and attracts the attention of Dr. Magnus. Emerging from the shadows of Old Town’s gothic streetscape, Magnus approaches Will with a proposal to join her team, a proposal he realizes he can't refuse.

Together, Magnus and Will explore the supernatural, the terrifying and the impossible in a bid to understand all life.

The deal to acquire SANCTUARY for ITV4 was brokered by Jay Kandola, ITV’s Director of Acquisitions for Dave Fewings, Channel Editor for ITV4. On the announcement Dave said “Coming from the team behind Stargate and starring Amanda Tapping, Sanctuary really couldn’t have a better sci-fi pedigree. It already has a great online following and with over 90% of the series shot on green screen it’s absolutely at the cutting edge of the genre; I'm looking forward to premiering it on ITV4 as a key title in our sci-fi portfolio.”

"SANCTUARY promises to be a totally fresh television viewing experience," said Mark Stern, SCI FI executive vice president of original programming. "This stylistic approach to virtual sets has proven hugely popular on the big screen, and we have been looking for a chance to use it on a television series. We've worked with Damian, Martin, Amanda and Sam on numerous projects in the past and think they are the perfect team to tackle something this ambitious."