ITV Studios unveils ‘Romulus’ pre-sales, plus US and Oz drama deals

ITV Studios has announced deals for its European scripted slate, including a number pre-sales for its Latin language drama Romulus.

Cattleya, Groenlandia and Sky’s Romulus (10 x 60’), which reconstructs the tale of the founding of Rome, has been acquired by HBO Europe and SBS in Australia.

The SBS deal also includes two further crime procedurals from Cattleya, Petra, an Italian adaptation of the novel series from Alicia Gimenez Barlett, and missing person investigation series Masantonio.

In the US, Acorn TV has acquired Beaubourg Stories’ French crime drama Balthazar, which follows the investigations of forensic pathologist Raphael Balthazar. Season 1 is available on the service and series 2 makes its US premiere on 20 April.

Also in the US, MHz has picked up a package of European titles including the French dramas Pieges (ITV Studios France, Capa Drama and BE-Films), Les Secrets (Beaubourg Stories), Speakerine (Macondo) and Tu Es Mon Fils (EuroCorp Television and ITV Studios France); as well as the legal drama Aber Bergen (ITV Studios Norway); romantic Spanish thriller Felix (Telefonica); and Scandinavian thrillers Greyzone (Cosmos Films), Hunters (SF Studios and Harmonica Films) and Kieler Street (Anagram Norway).

Ruth Berry, managing director global distribution at ITV Studios, said: “We have been aware of the perfect combination of increasingly high-quality European drama production and growing demand for global content for some time now and are proud to have ventured into this space alongside all the talented producers we work with.”