[March 14, 2011] GLOBAL'S ORIGINAL DRAMA SERIES THE HOT ZONE BEGINS PRODUCTION Tweet (Canada Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) International Ensemble Cast Includes Elias Koteas (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Michelle Borth (Hawaii Five-0), Luke Mably (The Gates), Deborah Kara Unger (The Hurricane), Terry Chen (Sanctuary)and Arnold Pinnock (The Listener) New Medical Drama to Premiere on Global and ABC this Summer TORONTO, March 14 /CNW/ - Shaw Media announced that production on Global Television's gritty, new, medical drama TheHot Zone (working title, formerly known as Combat Hospital) has begun. Commissioned by Global's original content team and recently picked up by ABC, the 13 x 1 hour-episode series will be shot in Toronto until July 2011. Broadcast details will be revealed at a later date. "There's no mistaking the relevance of this gripping new series," said Barbara Williams, Senior Vice-President, Content, Shaw Media. "With such a spectacular international cast on board and production now underway, we're one step closer to bringing audiences this candid look at medical heroes on the frontlines of war." TheHot Zone is a fictional medical procedural set in 2006 at the only military hospital providing advanced surgical care in all of Southern Afghanistan. The series charts the frantic lives of the hospital's resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the U.K. and other allied countries. This highly-charged series follows the characters as they navigate their way through the relentless life-and-death battles on the operating table, and the never-ending conflicts that arise from working in a war zone military hospital. TheHot Zone features a diverse ensemble cast including: Elias Koteas (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) as Colonel Marks; Michelle Borth (Hawaii Five-0) as Canadian surgeon Dr. Rebecca Gordon; Luke Mably (The Gates) as neurosurgeon Dr. Simon Hill; Deborah Kara Unger (The Hurricane) as Australian army psychiatrist Major Ada Pedersen; Terry Chen (Sanctuary) as trauma team leader Captain Bobby Trang; and Arnold Pinnock (The Listener) as Commander Will Royal, Chief of Nursing.   The series is being shot on an expansive 17,187-square metre (185,000 sq. ft) indoor and outdoor set recently constructed in Toronto. It is one of the largest standing sets ever built for a Canadian original production and is modelled after the real Canadian-lead NATO Role 3 Hospital at Kandahar Airfield. The set is a meticulous re-creation of a portion of the hospital compound and the vast Kandahar Airfield, including the helicopter landing zone, boardwalk area and barracks, which housed over 15,000 military and civilian personnel. TheHot Zone is a production from Canada's Sienna Films and the U.K.'s Artists Studio. Academy Award®-nominated Daniel Petrie Jr. (Beverly Hills Cop) is the executive producer and showrunner. Executive producers are Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny for Sienna Films (The Cry of the Owl, Diamonds, How She Move); Gub Neal, Justin Thomson-Glover and Patrick Irwin for U.K.-based Artists Studio (The Last Enemy); as well as Simon Vaughan of Lookout Point. The Hot Zone was created by Jinder Oujla-Chalmers (Ralph Klein - No Ordinary Man) and Douglas Steinberg (Boston Public). Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) has acquired all media rights in the series outside of North America.  Sony Pictures Television (SPT) will distribute the series internationally. The deal was brokered by Michael Helfand of SPWA and Carrie Stein of 3 Arts Entertainment. About Global Television Global Television is a Shaw Media network.   About Shaw Communications Inc. Shaw Communications Inc. is a diversified communications and media company, providing consumers with broadband cable television, High-Speed Internet, Home Phone, telecommunications services (through Shaw Business), satellite direct-to-home services (through Shaw Direct) and engaging  programming content (through Shaw Media).  Shaw serves 3.4 million customers, through a reliable and extensive fibre network.  Shaw Media operates one of the largest conventional television networks in Canada, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, History Television and Showcase.  Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Symbol: TSX - SJR.B, NYSE - SJR).  For more information about Shaw, please visit www.shaw.ca.  About Sienna Films Sienna Films is an independent feature film and television production company founded in 1992 by Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny.  Previous releases include The Cry of the Owl (with BBC Films), Diamonds (CBC, Canal+, ABC), How She Move (Mongrel Media/Paramount Vantage/MTV Films), One Dead Indian (CTV), Touch of Pink (Mongrel Media/Sony Pictures Classics), Marion Bridge (Film Movement/Cinemien), and New Waterford Girl (Alliance).  About Artists Studio Artists Studio was founded in February 2009 by former Box TV team Gub Neal (previously Head of Drama at Granada and Channel 4, before setting up Box TV in 2001), Justin Thomson-Glover and Patrick Irwin.  Artists Studio works with writers to develop scripts, secure financing, produce, and distribute programming internationally as well as progressing projects nurtured by the directors themselves. 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