BritBox Gets ‘Captivated’ & Buys Comic Crime Caper ‘Tree On A Hill’

EXCLUSIVE: BritBox has struck a deal to bring British dramas Captivated and Pren ar y Bryn (Tree on a Hill) to its American service.

The international streamer will launch both series in the U.S. later this year following the deal with distributor All3Media International.

Captivated comes from Story Films, the All3Media-backed producer behind The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe and Witness Number 3. It launched on Channel 5 earlier this year and is among the UK network’s top ten shows since January 2023, according to BARB data.

The series, starring Kara Tointin and Allen Leech, follows a young mother and her son, who find themselves pulled into the orbit of a wealthy businessman who harbors a dark, disturbing secret.

Welsh-language drama Tree on a Hill comes from Hinterland/Y Gwyll creator Ed Thomas and is produced by Fiction Factory. The BBC drama launched recently on the BBC and is billed as “a rich mix of dark humor, unique characters and a touch of the absurd, as it follows the lives of two unlikely heroes, whose quiet existence is changed in an instant when they find themselves on the wrong side of the law.”

“I’m thrilled our brilliant partners at BritBox are bringing Captivated and Tree on a Hill to audiences across the U.S.,” said Jennifer Askin, SVP North America at All3Media International, the sales wing of RedBird IMI-owned UK production house All3Media. “Both titles are from award-winning producers known for their enthralling storytelling and premium productions and I have every confidence they will offer BritBox audiences superb entertainment.”

For BritBox, the news comes weeks after we revealed it had commissioned a new version of the Inspector Lynley mysteries starring Leo Suter and Sofia Barclay. The BBC bought ITV out of the service earlier this year in a landmark £255M ($325M) deal, and in his first interview after being installed as the new-look service’s President, Robert Schildhouse told Deadline it was operating “autonomously” and free of “creative pressure” from the BBC, adding it was “the best route to market for British TV outside of the UK.