EXCLUSIVE: German event series The Widow Killer has landed deals in Europe ahead of its launch on ARD.
Canal+ has swooped for rights in the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, and SVT has bought the show for Sweden. The series is set to debut on ARD in Germany on Good Friday (April 3), before launches on Austria’s ServusTV and Czech Television later in the year.
The deals come after a busy period for the international TV market in the past month, with series being shopped at the Berlinale and the London TV Screenings. International distributor Intvition and gap financier Bravado Equity struck the deals.
The Widow Killer is based on Pavel Kohout’s novel of the same name, and is set in German-occupied Prague during the final days of World War II. It follows rookie Czech detective Jan Morava, who is forced to team with Gestapo agent Erwin Babuck to track down a serial killer after the widow of a German Wermacht general is brutally murdered. The story also centers on Jitka, Morava’s courageous fiancée, who goes undercover as bait, and Marleen, a seductive actress who has a secret alliance with Buback.
Nicholas Ofczarek (Pagan Peak), Jonas Nay (Deutschland 83, Deutschland 86, Deutschland 89), Jeanette Hain (Babylon Berlin), Devid Striesow (The Counterfeiters), Gerhard Liebmann (Tatort), Diana Dulinková (Two Words as the Key) and Karel Dobrý (Borgia). Christopher Schier is the director and Klaus Burck is the writer.
Zeitgeist Filmproduktion made the show as a co-production with Epo-Film Austria, ARD Degeto Film, NDR, ServusTV, HR and Canal+ Austria, in cooperation with Bravado Equity and Česká Televize. The production is supported by FISA+ and RTR Fernsehfonds Austria.
The series is being shopped in two-part and four-part formats.