BritBox in North America, Channel 4 in the UK and HBO in Latin America are among the buyers to have acquired Reyka, Fremantle‘s first South African drama.
Commissioned by M-Net in South Africa, the contemporary crime thriller stars Kim Engelbrecht and Iain Glen and was coproduced with Harriet Gavshon of Quizzical and Serena Cullen of Serena Cullen Productions.
Following deals with RTL Group-owned Fremantle, the eight-part English-language drama series will be available in more than 80 territories with broadcasters including the CBC (Canada), SBS (Australia), TVNZ (New Zealand), RTL (Germany), Cosmote TV (Greece), Sky Italia and Canal+ (Poland and France).
HBO in Latin America will launch Reyka in numerous countries following a pan-regional deal struck by Sheila Aguirre, executive VP of content distribution and format sales for Latin America, the Caribbean and Hispanic US at Fremantle, which boarded Reyka in 2018.
Other outlets to have acquired the series include Marjan Television (MENA Farsi), OSN Streaming (MENA Region), Hot (Israel), RTL Klub (Hungary), Viasat (Russia, CIS, Georgia, Ukraine) and Now TV (Hong Kong, Macau).
The series follows a flawed but brilliant criminal profiler who, haunted by her past, investigates a string of brutal murders committed by a serial killer in the sugar cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal. Having been abducted as a child by a farmer, she is traumatised by the experience but this also helps her enter the minds of Africa’s most notorious criminals and turn them inside out.
Julie Hodge, editorial director of global drama at Fremantle and executive producer of Reyka, said: “With compelling scripts, world-class performances and astonishing production values, it is not a surprise the series has performed excellently for M-Net, and I have no doubt that success will be emulated in the international market, cementing Fremantle as a key player in the English-language drama space.”
