Alibi & France TV strike pre-sale deals for Irish drama ‘The Boy That Never Was’

The Boy That Never Was (Source: Subotica)

UKTV’s Alibi channel and France Télévisions have struck pre-sale deals for upcoming Irish drama series The Boy That Never Was with distributor Abacus Media Rights.

Produced by Subotica for Irish broadcaster RTÉ, with support from Screen Ireland, the series is filmed on location in Morocco and scheduled for delivery in April 2024.

Co-written by Jo Spain and David Logan, the series is based on the novel by Karen Perry about Dillon, a three-year-old child who vanishes in Essaouira, Morocco, following an earthquake.

When Dillon’s father Harry (Colin Morgan) races back to their tiny apartment to rescue his child, the apartment is in rubble and there is no sign of his son. Three years later, thousands of miles away in Dublin, Harry spots a six-year-old boy in a crowd and is convinced he is Dillon. Desperate to find his son, Harry’s obsession tears apart his marriage to Robin (Toni O’Rourke), exposing shameful secrets that lead to the truth of what happened to their son on the night he went missing.

The series is executive produced by Aoife O’Sullivan and Tristan Orpen Lynch of Subotica. Executive producers for RTÉ are David Crean and Dermot Horan. Executive producer for Screen Ireland / Fís Éireann is Andrew Byrne.

Jonathan Ford, MD at Abacus Media Rights, commented: “RTÉ put this project into development when they heard Jo Spain and David Logan’s take on the story and their carefully structured scripts deliver so much from the very first scene. This drama is a deeply atmospheric and masterfully crafted tale of love and loss with myriad twists and turns that will chill viewers to the bone.”