HBO Boards 'The Sinking of the Laconia' Miniseries

COLOGNE, Germany - HBO has taken pay TV rights in Central and Eastern Europe for the big-budget German-English World War II miniseries The Sinking of the Laconia. The period drama, about the sinking of British ocean liner the RMS Laconia by a German U-boat during World War II, was one of the hot titles at the MIPTV international television market in Cannes in April.

The series drew rave reviews, and solid ratings, on its British bow on BBC2 in January. The British-German cast includes Brian Cox, Andrew Buchan, Thomas Kretschmann and Franka Potente.

Laconia is a co-production between Teamworx in Germany and Britain's Talkback Thames with backing from public channels ARD and the BBC. Fremantle Media Enterprises, which is handling world sales on Laconia, also announced free-TV deals with Pro TV in Romania, HRT in Croatia, Pop TV in Slovenia and TV Barrandov in the Czech Republic.