Topic announced today its acquisition of four Euro TV series from Beta Film for audiences in North America, including Season 3 of viewer-favorite crime thriller Pagan Peak.
The announcement was made by Jennifer Liang, Vice President, Programming Strategy, Acquisitions & Sales, Topic. Said Liang:
“Beta has been an invaluable partner to work with since Topic’s launch, and we are delighted to continue collaborating with them as we approach our third anniversary as the premier curator of elevated crime and suspense programs from around the world. These hit crime-themed miniseries and series including ‘Pagan Peak,’ one of Topic’s most-watched franchises, will help us continue our promise to our subscribers to deliver the world’s best in crime programming.”
Jeffrey Engelen, Beta International Sales Manager, North America, commented:
“We are very thankful and proud to have such a strong and reliable partner at our side. Our fruitful partnership with TOPIC has made it possible to bring an immense variety of our high-end European content across the pond to North America.”
The deal includes the exclusive US and Canada rights to four European crime-themed series, including Season 3 of the critically-acclaimed German-Austrian series Pagan Peak, Finnish series Helsinki Syndrome, Greek series Silent Road, and Croatian-Ukrainian series The Silence. All of them will stream exclusively on Topic (dates tba).
Pagan Peak: Season 3 (Der Pass)
In the third season of this hit crime thriller, a string of mysterious murders on both sides of the Germany-Austria border shocks the region. However, German detective Ellie Stocker (Julia Jentsch, Hannah Arendt) and Austrian investigator Gedeon Winter (Nicholas Ofczarek, Dark Woods), formerly cross-border partners, have become bitter enemies. While Gedeon sets out to find his childhood tormentor, Ellie is still trying to uncover the truth about the murder of her colleague. Soon, though, both will face a decision between retribution and forgiveness in their search for justice. (Trailer below is from Season 2)
Pagan Peak is produced by Wiedemann & Berg Television in a co-production with epo-film produktionsgesellschaft for Sky Germany.
Helsinki Syndrome (Helsinki-syndrooma)
This 8-episode thriller tells the story of Elias Karo (Peter Franzén, Vikings), an entrepreneur who takes four journalists hostage. For several years, Karo, a brilliant mind, loving husband, and caring father of two boys, has been planning to reveal the crimes committed against his family. Now, he forces the journalists to expose the two bank officials and the district court judge who destroyed the reputation of Elias’s family, stole everything they owned, and caused his father’s suicide.
When hundreds of similar stories of other families in despair start to unravel, Elias’s claims are proven true, gaining him active support from the public and even from his hostages. But the media attention that has shaken the nation is actually a smokescreen to enable the greatest robbery of all time: Elias is going to steal 2.2 billion euros from the State Treasury and give them to people who have suffered because of the government’s failure.
Helsinki Syndrome is produced by Fisher King in co-production with Panache Productions, YLE, ARTE, and NDR. Series directors include Juuso Syrjä (Bordertown), Marko Mäkilaakso (Bordertown), and Lenka Hellstedt (Winning Ticket).
Silent Road (Siopilos dromos)
To my knowledge, Silent Road will be the first Greek television series to be shown in the US. This 13-episode mystery-crime drama opens with the disappearance of a school bus with nine elementary-grade students, an event that shocks a seemingly peaceful community in one of Athens’s most affluent neighborhoods.
Under the eyes of the entire country, experienced detective Nasos Oikonomidis (Dimitris Lalos, All the Pretty Little Horses) oversees the investigation. But the kidnappers, who are demanding a ransom, will only talk to one person: Thalia Karouzou (Penelope Tsilika, The Bridge), a young journalist and the black sheep of one of the most powerful families of the community, who immediately becomes a person of interest.
Thalia, who is an aunt of two of the missing children, struggles with her strained relationship with her family, as her powerful father, Spyros (Antonis Kafetzopoulos, Unfair World), tries to take control of the situation. As days go by, it becomes clear that the culprits are aiming at something bigger than just the ransom. While Nasos tries to piece together a difficult puzzle, tensions around the case gradually rise, as they also do amongst the kidnappers…
Silent Road is produced by Mega TV in cooperation with Filmiki productions, and directed by Vardis Marinakis (Mavro livadi).
The Silence
In this six-episode mystery-crime drama series, a girl has drowned in the River Drava in Osijek, Croatia; another one has overdosed; and a third was killed by a car. No one can identify these victims. Inspector Vladimir Kovač (Darko Milas, Rest in Peace) is assigned to the case but has a difficult time solving the murders. Plagued by personal hardships, it is Stribor (Goran Bogdan, Black Sun), a reporter, who directs Kovač towards a maze of corruption, trafficking, and politics, where the most vulnerable girls are victimized. When Ukrainian expat Olga (Kseniya Mishina, The Heiress), the wife of a powerful Croatian politician, learns her niece is one of the victims, the three form an unlikely team.
Together they explore the dark depths of child trafficking that crosses Eastern European borders. The more the trio uncovers, the more it becomes clear: This web of criminal activity spins uncomfortably close around the highest echelons of power, including Olga’s husband, Ivan (Leon Lucev, Success). Soon, the lives of Olga, Kovač, and Stribor are threatened to completely fall apart.
A Croatian-Ukrainian production, The Silence is produced by Drugi Plan and HRT in co-production with Beta Film, Star Media, OLL.TV, and ZDF/ARTE. Dalibor Matanic (Novine) is the director.
In addition to the above titles, the Topic-Beta Film deal also includes rights renewals for the Italian political drama trilogy 1992, 1993, and 1994, a series described as House Of Cards in Italy. Based on true events, this fictional series is set in the 1990s, when Italy’s politics were shaken to the core as a major criminal investigation aimed to put an end to the widespread corruption that held the nation hostage.
Stay tuned for updates.
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