The History Channel announced its decision to greenlight the new nonfiction series “Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman," a working title hosted and executive produced by the Academy Award-winning actor as part of A+E Networks MIPCOM upfront presentation. “The History Channel is honored to partner with Morgan and his production team, Revelations Entertainment, to deliver context and backstory to some of history’s infamous prison escapes,” said Eli Lehrer, Executive Vice President and General Manager for the History channel. “Morgan's gravitas will help ground this series and drive the drama in a way no other face or voice can.”
A+E launched its MIPCOM upfront today during the digital event, offering an effective global catalog that fulfills its international partners, boasting more than 800 fresh hours of mega-franchises, premium docuseries and biographies, and a powerful collection of first-run TV movies that reflect its status as the number-one producer of original TV movies in the world.
“Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman” a History Channel production by Revelations Entertainment. Revelations' Lori McCreary, James Younger, and Kelly Mendelsohn served as executive producers alongside History Channel's Mary E. Donahue and Max Micallef. Produced by Freeman and producer Lori McCreary’s production company, Revelations Entertainment, the six one-hour episode series will reveal in detail history’s greatest convict escapes from some of the most notorious prisons in the world. “I’ve been inside the minds of prisoners in my acting career, and I’m looking forward to stepping inside the most notorious prisons in the world, like Alcatraz, Sing Sing, Riker’s Island, and Leavenworth," Freeman said. "Audiences will feel like they’re making the escapes themselves as I walk them into a virtual world and through the greatest escapes in history."
Some of the projects noted in the upfront include the Laurence Fishburne, host of the new programming franchise “History’s Greatest Mysteries,” Tim Allen, from the recently announced series “Assembly Required,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (“Black Patriots”), and William Shatner (“The UnXplained”); as well as talent from sister networks A&E and Lifetime including Robin Givens, director of Lifetime’s Ann Rule movie adaptation “A Murder to Remember," Wendy Williams, executive producer of Lifetime’s “Wendy Williams: The Hot Topic” biopic and its accompanying feature-length documentary on Williams, and Sharon Osbourne, executive producer of “The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne;” part A&E Network’s genre-defining, Emmy Award-winning “Biography” banner.
The film covers jailbreak attempts, featuring dramatic recreations, dynamic storytelling, and cutting-edge visual effects escapes from prisons. Each episode, all hosted by Freeman, will uncover every step of an inmate’s plan, the escape route, and the intense manhunt that followed shortly thereafter.