Beyond Rights has announced the psychological thriller Halifax: Retribution has been acquired in the US by PBS Distribution for transmission on the PBS Masterpiece Channel on Prime Video.
Produced by Beyond Lonehand, a Beyond group production company, for Nine Network (Australia), the 8 x 60 procedural drama stars Rebecca Gibney (Wanted, Lowdown Dirty Criminals, Flying Doctors) and Anthony LaPaglia (Lantana, Riviera, Without a Trace). The new series sees Gibney reprising her iconic role as forensic psychiatrist Jane Halifax from Halifax F.P., a series of 21 award-winning, feature-length dramas that ran on Australian television from 1994 to 2002.
HALIFAX: Retribution has proved both a ratings and critical success this year. It remains the highest-rated new Australian drama of 2020, winning its primetime slot across all the commercial FTA networks for every episode and securing more than a million viewers each time, according to official consolidated viewing figures. In addition, the series was recently nominated in the Best Drama Series category for the 2020 AACTA Awards (Australian Academy for Cinema, Television and Arts), while Rebecca Gibney was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series.
Sherry Fynbo, EVP sales for North America at Beyond Rights, was responsible for negotiating the deal with PBS Distribution. She comments: “Through its Masterpiece brand, PBS has long provided a home for some of the world’s best and most enduring scripted series. We are thrilled that Halifax: Retribution will now sit alongside its impressive collection of leading English-language dramas on the PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon’s Prime Video.”
Mikael Borglund, Beyond International’s CEO and MD, executive produced both the original HALIFAX F.P. titles and HALIFAX: Retribution. He adds: “It was real pleasure to bring so many of the original team back together, including creator and writer Roger Simpson, to see how Jane Halifax’s life had unfolded over the past two decades. Fans of the original series, which sold all over the world and featured everyone from Hugh Jackman and Hugo Weaving to Guy Pierce and Frances O’Connor, had been waiting patiently for this series, while its very contemporary themes around data mining and personal freedoms, in addition to its strong characters and smart standalone script, are successfully attracting new audiences. I’m sure it will prove very popular in the US.”
Listen to Mediaweek’s Halifax: Retribution podcast with Roger Simpson and Rebecca Gibney.