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SERIES SPECSBroadcaster: ������������������� Telenet, VIER

Format: ���������������������������� 12 x 45’

Genre: ������������������������������ Serialized Crime Drama

Writers: ��������������������������� Jonas Geirnaert and Julie Mahieu

Directors: ������������������������ Gilles Coulier Dries Vos

Executive Producers: ���� Hilde De Laere (FBO) Michiel Devlieger (Woestijnvis)

Location: ������������������������� Belgium

Production Start: ����������� October 2016

Delivery Start: ���������������� March 2018

Distributor: ��������������������� Dynamic Television

THE DAY is a TELENET ORIGINAL produced by FBO and WOESTIJNVIS in coproduction with VIERwith the support of the VAF MEDIA FUND and the BELGIAN TAXSHELTER FOR AUDIOVISUAL PRODUCTION

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THE FORMAT The Day is a unique and gripping reinvention of a familiar genre: mixing the heart-pounding tension of a heist thriller, with the tantalizing puzzle pieces of a simmering, layered mystery� The series unfolds across a single day, using a distinctive storytelling structure: we open with the beginning of the heist from the police perspective� The following episode shows the same events from inside the bank� The series continues like this: flipping between inside and outside, police and perps, with each time-shifting episode revealing another point of view on events�

Similar in format to the perspective device brilliantly used in The Affair, and occupying the same territory as hugely successful films like Inside Man, Hell or High Water, Baby Driver, and The Town, The Day is a breakneck ride, packed with tension, sky-high stakes and unexpected twists and turns�

THE SERIESAn ingenious bank robbery spirals out of control in a quiet Flemish town as police, criminals and hostages reveal unexpected agendas� The Day is a taut, suspenseful mystery told in a unique parallel perspective: each episode alternating focus between the police operation outside and the volatile pressure cooker inside the bank� An intense, claustrophobic game of cat-and-mouse unfolds, with each time-shifting episode revealing another point of view on events; our sympathies constantly changing with each revelation� There’s a whole vault of secrets to get through before this day is over� The clock is ticking� Lives are hanging by a thread� And nobody is to be trusted�

THE POLICEDawn breaks on a cold winter’s morning in a quiet Flemish town� Within the hour, a fractured team of police negotiators find themselves facing a perilous hostage situation as a bank heist unfolds� With the clock ticking, negotiators and detectives attempt to resolve an impossible situation, while the mystery deepens at every turn� Meanwhile, anxious relatives, press interference and simmering personal issues threaten to push the team to breaking point�

THE VILLAINSDawn breaks on a cold winter’s morning in a quiet Flemish town� Within the hour, two men carry out an ingeniously-planned bank heist, blindsiding the local police force� When the claustrophobic situation spirals out of control, it becomes clear that the lines between police, criminals and victims aren’t as clear as we might imagine� As events accelerate, unforeseen hostages, mistakes and tensions between the perpetrators have explosive consequences�

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THE POLICE

VOS (36) – SOFIE DECLEIRMercedes De Vos works as a negotiator with the Directorate of Special Units (DSU), the federal police department dealing with special interventions and hostage-takings� She has more than ten years of experience and is respected and loved by her colleagues� She’s a natural negotiator, but one who’s ready for a new professional challenge: she recently secured a new job with the federal police� Few of her colleagues know about this yet, and Vos feels compelled to polish her team’s skills before leaving, something easier said than done� Vos is a woman of few words, which some might interpret as indifference. Her private life is pretty bland: she doesn’t have a boyfriend, no children and very few friends� Her father is severely ill and currently in the hospital�

IBRAHIM (26) - LUKAS DE WOLFIbrahim El Ghazoui started training as a DSU negotiator soon after Roeland went on sick leave� He hasn’t been on the job very long, but really enjoys it� During Roeland’s absence, Ibrahim paired up with Vos on several occasions Ibrahim finds it especially hard to acknowledge that Vos’ wealth of experience and his innate gut feeling might in fact be perfectly complementary� When Roeland returns from sick leave, Ibrahim has little confidence in the man’s ability.

IVO (47) - JOHAN VAN ASSCHEIvo De Rouck commands the Directorate of Special Units (DSU)� In crisis situations, he coordinates intervention teams, negotiators and technicians� Ivo is the team’s tower of strength� Ethically he is straight as a die, unwavering but always humane� He protects each staff member like a father. Ivo expects the people he works with to be thoroughly professional, but will never make them take unnecessary risks; neither does he lose sight of their psychological well being� Under his tough appearance lurks deep empathy�

ROELAND (55) - WILLY THOMASRoeland Wagemans is a DSU negotiator� He has been with the department for more than twenty years, the last ten mainly paired up with Vos� They used to complement one another perfectly, but just under a year ago a family hostage-taking ended in a bloodbath� Roeland blamed himself for the traumatic outcome and spiraled into a depression� Roeland has only been back at work a few weeks� The period of mental recovery is over and Roeland reckons he is ready to move on and leave the past behind him. But he’s biting off more than he can chew and doesn’t realize that the emotional battle he is fighting is far from over� During negotiations, his smoldering panic will throw a wrench in the works�

ARNE (36) - JEROEN PERCEVALArne Michiels works with the federal police and oversees the on-scene investigation work�His passionate nature also manifests itself in the tenacity he shows at work� About ten years ago Arne met a high-spirited girl named Valerya, and the two got married� When their newborn son’s well-being was the only thing keeping them together, Arne fled into work and into a stormy affair with Kristien, a young journalist who was working for a local newspaper� Arne ended their relationship a year and a half ago and is still coming to terms with their breakup� Doing a good job as the bank robbery escalates becomes harder when Kristien turns up with her team: she now works as a reporter for a commercial TV channel.

T H E C H A R A C T E R S T H E C H A R A C T E R S

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T H E C H A R A C T E R S T H E C H A R A C T E R S

HOSTAGES KIDNAPPERS

TOMMY (38) - BERT HAELVOETTommy got a technical education and had his own one man business, working as a subcontractor doing groundwork and digging for big building companies� He went bankrupt when he unfairly got the blame for a serious work accident at a big building project� Ever since, jobs have been hard to come by, and every month he’s finding it hard to make ends meet, let alone pay back the huge damages� Elias convinces Tommy to participate in the robbery� The huge amount of money they’re after could be his ticket out of a miserable life�

WALTER (62) - BOB SNIJERSWalter Blomme has been branch manager of the local Fides Bank for twenty years� He is married to Andrea; they have no children� He is meticulous, is very good with customers and the bank’s results have risen satisfactorily over the years� As a result, nobody ever questions his abilities� His days at work tend to be much of a muchness and he likes it that way�

MICHAËL (27) - JELLE DE BEULEMichael Van Hamme is an extroverted, uncomplicated young man who has been working with Fides Bank for about four years� He is married to his colleague Inge. Their relationship suffers from Inge’s continuing dejection and indecisiveness� At the beginning of the day, Inge and Michael have a massive fight over breakfast. When Michael is taken hostage later that morning and worried family members gather at the scene, Inge is nowhere to be found

NOOR (15) & BASIL (5) - IMANI DE CAESTECKER & PER JANSSENSNoor Hawal is an adolescent girl who grows up in a blended family� Noor was born in Iraq, where she witnessed the suicide bombing in which her mother was killed. Yusef, her father, fled to Belgium and started a new life with Kathleen. Noor now also has a half-brother, Basil.

FREYA (36) – MAAIKE NEUVILLEFreya Van Landschoot is an intelligent, attractive woman� She is the daughter of the wealthy Rolf and Claudine Van Landschoot� Her brother Nils committed suicide a year and a half ago, and Freya’s relationship with her parents has been strained ever since�

SERGE (40) - GEERT VAN RAMPELBERGSerge De Coninck works at the bank, has a house with a garden, is in a steady relationship and has recently been blessed with a perfectly healthy baby; in short: he is leading a perfect middle-class life and landed himself a good job at the bank� At least, that’s how it seems from the outside�

ELIAS (39) – TITUS DE VOOGDTElias had a difficult childhood. Antisocial behavior and fighting led to petty crime and robbery, resulting in a few years in jail� After his release from prison, Elias is determined to start afresh but just as things are changing for the better, his fragile world collapses, and Elias is lured back to crime... Today is to be Elias’ final job. He’s going to use the money to flee abroad, start again� During the heist, Elias is the obvious leader, coming across as a hard and seemingly merciless criminal� When the plan proves less watertight than he thought and people he trusted betray him, Elias is going to become increasingly dangerous�

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THE DIRECTORSGILLES COULIER is one of Flanders’ most promising upcoming directors� His first series Bevergem (The Natives) proved to be an instant hit for broadcaster Canvas� The series was nominated for the Rockie Awards and won Best Fiction at the Flemish TV Awards� In September 2017 his first feature film Cargo has been released to much acclaim�

DRIES VOS directed hugely successful TV formats such as Wat Als (International Emmy Award for Best Comedy 2014), Safety First and De Biker Boys� Dries also worked in the US, where he participated in the writer’s room of Gossip Girl and The Carrie Diaries� In December 2016 his first feature film Allemaal Familie premiered in Belgian cinemas�

THE WRITERS Multi-talented JONAS GEIRNAERT had not even graduated from the Ghent film school when his animated movie Flatlife was nominated for a ‘Palme d’Or’ and won the jury prize for best short movie at the Cannes film festival in 2004� He is a director of animated movies, cartoonist, comedian and TV-maker� He co-wrote Quiz Me Quick, which won a Rockie Award at the BANFF World Media Festival in the category “best sitcom�” In Flanders Jonas is a well-known TV-personality, who’s work often combines critical acclaim with successful ratings�

After her degree in Biomedical Sciences, JULIE MAHIEU started working as a journalist and columnist� In 2007, she started training in Film, Video and Scenario at the Ghent film school and became a video reporter for production company Arendsoog and press agency Belga� Furthermore, she was co-writer and director of the short movie Der Deutschen Morgen and worked as a reporter for prime-time magazines Man Bijt Hond and De Ideale Wereld�

THE PRODUCERS Production outlet FBO recently produced the Belgian box office success De Premier (The Prime Minister) by Erik Van Looy and the acclaimed hit series Callboys by Jan Eelen (FIPA d’Or award for best actor - Rockie Award for best comedy series, International Emmy Nomination) both in coproduction with Woestijnvis� FBO also co-produced Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate, Rendez-Vous by Antoinette Beumer, and the Dutch series Brussel, De Maatschap and Soof�

THE PRODUCERS (CONT.)WOESTIJNVIS is one of Flanders’ best-known and most esteemed TV production companies� It has produced a long list of award-winning programmes and legendary series such as De Mol, De Slimste Mens ter Wereld, Hotel Römantiek, De Rechtbank, Topdokters� Several of these formats got international remakes� Their drama credits include audience favorites such as De Ronde, Van Vlees en Bloed, and Callboys� Woestijnvis’ programs have won numerous Belgian and International television awards

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