The BBC has also bought the broadcast rights to Springer, currently running in the West End, and will televise it in January, the Independent says.
"We've been after Jerry Springer for quite a long time because it felt so fresh and modern, cheeky and witty," BBC executive Franny Moyle told the paper. "We're delighted we can capture that. But I'm particularly concerned that we develop stuff that's bespoke to television‹informed by classical tradition, but reinventing it in television's own terms. The BBC hopes the series will introduce a new generation of viewers to opera."
Last month, the network staged a "flashmob" opera in a London train station, surprising commuters with a new hour-long work that made use of arias by Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini.