DIY Television
Lilyhammer Acquired By BBC Four
News
BBC Four to air Norwegian/American black comedy.
Posted 6th February 2012, 2:31pm in TV
Sales company SevenOne International have announced that the BBC have nabbed the rights to black-comedy drama, Lilyhammer.
The show is the first original series to launch on streaming site Netflix in the US, Canada and Latin America. Brits will get the chance to see the show on BBC Four.
Deadline report that the show, starring The Sopranos star, Steve Van Zandt is produced by Norwegian company Rubicon and posted record ratings when it launched in Norway last month, the best for a Norwegian made drama series ever.
Van Zandt is co-creator and executive produced the series which is about an American mobster, turned informer, who goes into witness protection and choses the Norwegian town of Lillehammer in which to hide and make a new life for himself.
Famous for his role as Silvio in The Sopranos, Van Zandt is familar to music fans as a long standing member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.
BBC Four controller, Richard Klein had this to say, “Lilyhammer mixes sharp wit and American big city ways with the beauty of the Norwegian mountains and folksy nature of a small town - a perfect combination for a razor-sharp drama about cutural mores. I am delighted that BBC Four has acquired this drama and I am sure our viewers are going to have a good time!”
With Scandinavian dramas such as The Killing, Borgen and Wallander all finding a home on the channel the BBC’s head of program acquisitions, Sue Deeks concluded that, “Lilyhammer is fresh, funny and offbeat -it makes a highly original addition to BBC Four’s rich Scandinavian drama slate.”
http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/television/lilyhammer-acquired-by-bbc-four/