Magnify Media, the UK-based distribution and entertainment rights-management specialist, has reported a number of territories have secured Rare TV’s award-winning documentary Contagion. The one-hour special was originally commissioned by BBC Four, airing in 2018. It was retransmitted on the UK public broadcaster in February, since when it has been picked up by TV4 in Sweden, NRK in Norway, RSI in Switzerland, TRT in Turkey, PTS in Taiwan and RTHK in Hong Kong.
Andrea Jackson, CEO of Magnify Media, said: “This is not only an intelligent and informative documentary, but it’s also a timely one in the light of the misinformation and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus. Contagion is a sensitively made program that explains how pandemics evolve and move around communities, based on reliable modeling techniques and technology. The take-away is that, when it comes to a pandemic, knowledge is our best protection. If we understand how viruses behave, we can learn how to keep ourselves safe and calm, and avoid panicking ourselves into a greater crisis.”
Alexander Gardiner, CEO of Rare TV commented: “Rare Television is very proud that this important story is reaching wider audiences across the globe in light of the current situation. The data generated by the ground-breaking nationwide citizen science experiment at the heart of the program set a new gold standard in pandemic research information and is informing decisions made on the ground today. The program is packed with genuine science revelation and fascinating information, all of which is more relevant today than ever”.
In "Contagion", Dr. Hannah Fry launches a nation-wide mathematical-modeling experiment to help predict and plan for the impact of a pandemic, which was near the top of the UK government’s risk register even before the current threat of Coronavirus. Central to Dr. Fry’s mission is the BBC Pandemic app, downloaded by several thousand citizens, which is designed to predict how quickly an infection disease would spread across the country, potential fatalities and what can be done to prepare for it.
Emergency physician Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim explains why viruses are still such a danger to society a century after Spanish flu killed some 100 million people worldwide. He talks to the researchers who are attempting to discover what makes some people more contagious than others and visits a factory tasked with producing vaccine when the next pandemic hits. Armed with this information and the results gleaned from the Pandemic app, Fry and Abdelmoneim reveal their findings — all of which are deeply relevant to today’s global situation.