Bold and the Beautiful is set to make TV history!

 Since it Premiere 26 years ago, the show has become the most-watched serial in the world, with an audience of an estimated 26.2 million viewers. 

 

The Award Winning drama  of The Bold and the Beautiful is set to make TV history by becoming the first American daytime drama to shoot in the United Arab Emirates.

The hit show will shoot in Abu Dhabi and Dubai next month with leading actors Thorsten Kaye, Don Diamont and Katherine Kelly Lang making the trip with the crew.

The episodes shot in the Middle East will air in a few days, according to TV Guide magazine.
Show producer Bradley Bell said: "This is a great opportunity for us. B&B is really popular on the Dubai One network and that's opened up a lot of doors. We don't quite know what to expect but that's always the most fun part of this job – going off and trying things we've never done before. It's very exciting."

Don Diamont and Kelly Lang will compete in the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon 2014, happening on 15 March, during filming so get down there on that day for a chance to make it in to the show as an extra. Team Ahlan! will definitely be there waiting for our close up!

With such buzz surrounding the arrival of the cast of The Bold and The Beautiful to shoot in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, did the show’s executive producer and chief scriptwriter Bradley Bell have any idea just how popular it is here, where it’s a long-standing mainstay of Dubai One’s daily schedule?

“We’d heard it’s very popular and that was part of the reason for coming,” he says. “From the moment we’ve landed it’s been amazing. The beautiful architecture, how clean and safe it is and what a fabulous, modern exciting city this is.”

The story of how the soap’s leading lady, Katherine Kelly Lang, requested time off her shooting schedule to partake in the Abu Dhabi triathlon and Bell deciding to make it a group trip and shoot here too, is well-known now, but it sounds like a huge logistical challenge.

“It was a very short timescale,” admits Bell. “But that tends to be the way when you’re writing 255 episodes a year. She talked about it, I went online, and my mind was immediately racing with all the potential drama that could be created with such an amazing backdrop.”
                        
Locations for the three-day shoot include Atlantis, Emirates Palace, Burj Khalifa and the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Bell adds that the crew will be shooting from a helicopter too, “to make sure we can show our audience all the hot spots and showcase the cities”. Surprisingly, however, he has brought a minimal crew with him: “We have the actors, a director and someone to look after costumes. A producer came out two weeks ago to meet the local production partners and he’s assured me we’re in good hands, so everything else is down to the twofour54 team.”

Jamal Al Awadhi, from twofour54 intaj, is on hand to fill in the gaps. “We have 20 to 30 staff supporting the production, including three Emiratis on set as part of our commitment to train local talent,” says Al Awadhi. “When a production comes in, they need someone that can take care of everything from their arrival to when they leave. From permits to transport and logistics to hospitality and, of course, cameras, kit and crew. We need to make it the best experience possible – that’s what brings people back.”

• The eight episodes, partially filmed this week in the UAE, will be broadcast in the US from May 23 to June 6, while Middle East audiences will see them on Dubai One in 2015