Entitled The Drama Continues, the spot will stage the leading actors of several of the biggest shows on TV in one continuous piece of action. Among them, there will be Lawrence Fishburne (CSI), Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward), Gary Sinise (CSI: New York), Simon Baker (The Mentalist), Mark Harmon (NCIS) and Marg Helgenberger (CSI).
The spot also carries existing footage of David Caruso (CSI: Miami). The spot was directed by Richard Hart and Keith Gray from the London creative agency Power Animal, who also conceived, wrote and produced the spot, and shot by American cinematographer John Barr. The Drama Continues was commissioned and overseen by Five's Creative Director Nol Davis and Five Campaign Manager Tessa Cannon. This is the first time that Warner Bros., CBS Television Studios and Disney’s ABC Studios have agreed to jointly release their key talent to participate in the filming of a single promo. The shoot took place in Hollywood last month on the set of each of the five series.
According to Nol Davis “the participation of different actors from different shows made by different Hollywood studios in a single marketing spot is unprecedented. But the studios and the stars themselves recognise that Five is the home of US drama on British TV and like us, they see the importance of celebrating that.”
The US crime dramas in the British channel’s line-up are among its top-rated programmes. Every week, they collectively attract an average 11.8 million UK viewers. They also played a significant part in Five becoming the only terrestrial family of channels to increase its audience share in 2009.