Fry docs lead Iostar line-up

Iostar, the media group set up by former Hallmark executive Mark Grenside, has showcased its first productions at the MiPTV festival in Cannes, including three BBC documentaries fronted by Stephen Fry.

Stephen Fry in America is a five-part 'road trip' which sees Fry driving round the US in a London taxi and Last Chance to See sees him team up with zoologist Mark Carwardine to track down species facing extinction.

Following the success and praise of the BBC Two and IWC Media production The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, which saw Fry exploring his own struggle with bi-polar disorder, he will now front HIV and Me, a two-part doc focusing on people whose lives have been affected by the disease, including his close friends.

The programmes are believed to have been produced in association with Fry's own production company Sprout. Fry and his production partner Gina Carter are registered to attend the Cannes event.

Other Iostar factual programming includes a Reader's Digest-funded wildlife series Animals Are Amazing, the rebuilding of a mosque in Jerusalem in Stairway to Heaven and They Ruled The World, a 12-part series about the kings and rulers of former empires.

The company's new chief executive Dawn Airey, the former Sky managing director, and chairman Dick Emery, are due to attend the MiPTV festival with Iostar Distribution president Erik Pack and Iostar Factual president Andre Singer.