ITV Studios inks major premium drama deal with Nordic broadcasters

ITV Studios has today announced a slew of new sales in the Nordics across its world-class drama slate. The deal, which closed at last week’s ITV Studios’ Drama Festival, part of the third annual London TV Screenings, sees five major Nordic public broadcasters: SVT in Sweden, NRK in Norway, YLE in Finland, DR in Denmark and RUV in Iceland, unifying their buying power to acquire a substantial package of premium scripted content for their channels. 

Together, they have secured the quintessentially modern relationship drama You & Me which explores what it means to find love, starring Harry Lawtey (Industry, The Pale Blue Eye), Jessica Barden (The End of the F***ing World, Pieces of Her, Far From The Madding Crowd) and Sophia Brown (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Giri/Haji and Borderland) alongside Julie Hesmondhalgh (Coronation Street, Broadchurch, The A Word) and produced by Happy Prince, directed by BAFTA-winner Tom Vaughan (Doctor Foster) and executive produced by Russell T. Davies (It’s A Sin, Doctor Who).

The consortium has also acquired World Productions’ gripping new provocative drama Fifteen-Love, set in the elite world of Grand Slam tennis. Starring Aiden Turner and Ella Lily Hyland, it is created and written by Hania Elkington (The Innocents, The Essex Serpent) and directed by Eva Riley (“Perfect Ten”) and Toby MacDonald (“Ragdoll”).

The deal also includes the eagerly awaited World Productions for ITV1 and ITVX series, Malpractice, directed by BAFTA-nominated Philip Barantini (Boiling Point, The Responder) and written by former NHS doctor Grace Ofori-Attah. This nail-biting medical thriller tells the story of a damaged doctor caught up in a dangerous conspiracy and will air on ITVX in the coming months. 

Nolly, the three-part drama from BAFTA-winning writer Russell T Davies and produced by Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street Productions has also been snapped up, starring the Academy Award-nominated Helena Bonham-Carter.

Additional shows include World Productions’ true crime-drama The Hunt For Raoul Moat, starring Lee Ingleby and written by Anne screenwriter Kevin Sampson and the Mammoth Screen and MASTERPIECE co-production, Tom Jones, the four-part mini-series reimagining Henry Fielding’s classic novel ‘The History of Tom Jones’. Finally from Jeff Pope’s ITV Studios label, two dramas based on true stories, The Walk-In starring Stephen Graham, about how a Neo-Nazi plan to kill an MP was foiled by an inside man, and Four Lives the story of the courageous families of four young gay men who lost their lives to killer Stephen Port, starring Stephen Merchant.

Gisela Asimus Minnbergh, Executive Vice President, Distribution EMEA, ITV Studios said: “It’s the combination of the calibre of producers we are now working with - Nicola Shindler, Simon Heath, Dominic Treadwell-Collins, Patrick Spence and Jeff Pope to name but a few - and the Nordics appetite for UK drama which makes partnerships like this possible. I’m delighted to see this volume of shows reaching Nordic viewers on their ever-popular PSB channels.”

Fredrik Luihn, Head of Acquisitions, NRK, speaking on behalf of the group said: “We are extremely pleased to be able to bring such a great line-up of top quality British drama series to the Nordic audience.”

The deal was brokered on behalf of ITV Studios by Jo Halstead, Sales Director, Nordics.

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