TLC will explore the super-secret world of Gypsies and Travellers with two new reality series.
The network has acquired the British hit “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings,” which set ratings records in the UK with its in-depth look at the mysterious, closed society of Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers.
TLC will also air a new, American version of “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings,” set to premiere early next year and currently casting in the Southeast. It may or may not keep the same title.
TLC’s series will be produced by Firecracker Films, the brains behind the British original — which will premiere on TLC May 29 with a sneak-peek before beginning its seven-episode run in June.
“We’re showing you a community of people you rarely get to see,” says TLC GM Amy Winter. “This will be an inside look at a very authentic life.”
TLC is hoping that “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings” will do for that community what its other series “Sister Wives” has done for polygamists (along with HBO’s drama series “Big Love“).
In 2007, FX aired the short-lived series “The Riches,” starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Irish Traveller con artists roaming the South.
“Big Fat Gypsy Weddings,” which follows a group of modern-day British Romany Gypsies and Travellers, premiered to 9 million viewers — the highest-rated documentary in British TV history and huge numbers for a UK show.
Much of the show focused on the groups’ elaborate ceremonies, especially weddings, and on the differences between the sexes in this closed society, of which little is known in the outside world.
“We love weddings [at TLC] and these weddings, in particular, are unbelievable — they’re days long,” says Winter. “They’re extravagant and visually arresting.”
The British version will be “repurposed” (with American voiceover narration) for TLC.
“The community itself is a fascinating community of contrasts with centuries-old religious practices and traditions, which they combine with the modern world,” Winter says.
Firecracker Films is currently in the process of casting TLC’s original gypsies and travellers series. “We know there are pockets of these communities spread across the US, with some fairly big pockets in the Southeast,” Winter says. “They’re very private and it’s not something you cast a wide net for.
“We’re trying to go directly to these communities and talk to them.
“We want to dig a little deeper and see what this community is all about.”