Walter Presents Picks Up Ride Upon the Storm

Walter Presents has licensed the Danish drama Ride Upon the Storm from STUDIOCANAL to deliver to audiences in the U.K.

Ride Upon the Storm comes from Adam Price, creator of the hit Borgen. It stars Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards, The Killing) in a story that centers on a family of priests and the characters within it, as they each choose their path to live a meaningful life.

The drama is produced by DR Drama in cooperation with ARTE France and SAM le Français. The deal includes seasons one and two, 20 episodes in total.

Walter Presents’ co-founder and curator, Walter Iuzzolino, said: “Ride Upon the Storm completely resets the standards for scripted excellence around the world—proving yet again, that when it comes to extraordinary storytelling, Danish drama keeps reinventing itself, refusing to be boxed into the Scandi detective corner and defying categorization. A piece of this stature comes on the market only every ten years, it really is that good and I’m absolutely delighted to have secured it for U.K. audiences.”

Price added: “With Borgen, we were amazed and thrilled to see that a Danish show about politics could actually travel the world and ended up being broadcast on five continents. After Borgen, I wanted to work on a story about something that is affecting most of our lives almost on a daily basis and that is even more ‘political’ than politics: religion. Religion fascinates me, as it is, in essence, intangible and difficult to grasp; we cannot prove or disprove the existence of God, and yet religion guides or even controls millions of people’s lives all over the world. So from politics to God—or faith, you could say. But faith should also be understood as something above religion, the driving force in our lives. Not only faith in God, but also our faith in love, in each other in ourselves. Ride Upon the Storm is, in essence, a character-based drama about a family. About parenthood and children and about just how much we are willing to do when we are torn between what we believe and what we love. We managed to get the Borgen production team together for this new show and a fantastic cast headed by the great Lars Mikkelsen—already a household name in many international TV series from House of Cards to Sherlock Holmes. We are very pleased to be onboard Walter Presents and Channel 4 with Ride Upon the Storm alongside many of the best new high-quality dramas from Scandinavia.”

Katheryn Needham, the head of TV and digital for the U.K. at STUDIOCANAL, added: “We’re very pleased to be partnering with Walter Presents on the series, a service that shares our passion for the very best in high-end international drama. Ride Upon the Storm is a brave, emotional family drama that doesn’t shy away from confronting some of the more difficult questions in life, and it’s a privilege to be collaborating with Adam Price and SAM on a project of this caliber.”