DRG Notches Up Drama Deals

LONDON: DRG has signed a new raft of deals from its international drama catalog, including securing a pact with France’s Canal+ for the political and social thriller Nobel.

Produced by Monster for NRK, Nobel is set against the backdrop of a dramatic conspiracy plot in the middle of Norway’s war in Afghanistan and at the center of the world’s most famous humanitarian prize. In addition to the Canal+ deal, the series has been picked up by Lumiere Group for Benelux and DBS Satellite Services in Israel.

Season two of Black Widows, which mixes the best of Nordic crime drama with dark humor, was licensed by Televisa (Mexico). AXN Mystery (Japan) and Sony in Germany (pay TV and Euvid on FTA) acquired the first season of the original Finnish version, produced by Moskito for Nelonen. In addition, Iceland 365, SBS Australia (its on-demand AVOD platform) and Acorn Media in the U.S. have licensed Black Widows Scandinavia, a 8×1-hour reversion, produced by Moskito for TV3 (Sweden, Norway and Denmark).

HBO Europe went for the NRK-produced Eyewitness, as well as the HBO Asia original Halfworlds. SBS (Australia) acquired Criminal Justice, from BBC Productions, and Umbre, the HBO Europe (Romania) treatment of the Australian mafia series Small Time Gangster.

Meanwhile, Sky 1 in Germany acquired all 54 episodes of the hit drama Doc Martin, which was produced in 2004 by Buffalo Pictures, in association with Homerun Productions for ITV1. The American digital distributor Film Rise inked a deal with DRG for an extensive content package, including all three seasons of Easy Living, two seasons of Green Wing and two seasons of Detectorists.

Anne Roder-Botbol, DRG’s senior VP sales for EMEA, said: “Scandinavia has a justly deserved reputation for creating excellent, thought-provoking drama and the big early Scandi hits paved the way, encouraging more broadcasters to invest in non-local language drama. We are delighted that our exclusive relationship with NRK, as well as other producers in the region, keeps a steady supply of excellent shows such as Nobel coming our way.

“It is also wonderful to see titles such as Doc Martin still going strong, proving that for distributors such as ourselves, investing in quality drama and knowing how to handle such titles can still pay dividends, ten or more years down the line. Doc Martin has been sold to 138 territories and while the original may be set against a quintessentially British backdrop, the fish-out-of-water doctor is an easily adaptable theme and has seen the Doc Martin format remade in seven countries, including the Netherlands, France and Spain.”