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EXCLUSIVE: ITV is among the first buyers to swoop for Mark Williams crime drama Safe Harbor here at the London TV Screenings.
We can reveal the UK broadcaster is joined by Ireland’s Virgin Media Television and Australia’s SBS in acquiring the series from distributor Eccho Rights.
The eight-part series, which has been building buzz over the past year, will premiere on ITV streamer ITVX and Virgin in Ireland in the spring, with SBS launching it later in the year. The sales are among the highest-profile deals unveiled at the London TV Screenings so far this week.
Safe Harbor, a high-octane action thriller set in the European drug trade, stars Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones), Charlie Murphy (Peaky Blinders), Colm Meaney (Hell on Wheels), Jack Gleeson (Game of Thrones), and Martijn Lakemeier (Maxima).
It was commissioned by Dutch streamer Videoland and Belgium’s Streamz, with Mediawan-owned Dutch indie Submarine making the show alongside Eccho’s Munich- and London-based parent, Night Train Media, and Zero Gravity, which is part of Williams’ management and production business. Williams is creator, writer, co-director and exec producer on the show, which was based on an idea from Submarine’s Femke Wolting. Herbert L. Kloiber and James Copp are executive producers for Night Train Media.
Deadline first told you about the show in November 2023.
Inspired by true events, it follows gifted hacker Tobias (Allen) and his ambitious best friend Marco (Lakemeier), who are plucked from obscurity and plunged headfirst into the chaos of organised crime after crossing paths with the Irish mob. Leading the mob’s operations in Holland are brother and sister Sloane (Murphy) and Farrell (Gleeson), who enlist Tobias’ and Marco’s services to hack into the security system of Rotterdam harbour, Europe’s largest shipping port, to secure undetected deliveries of drug shipments.
Herbet L. Kloiber, CEO of Night Train and distributor Eccho, said: “Safe Harbor has generated a great deal of buzz in the market, with its truly international profile and A-list cast. Coupled with Mark’s unique talent in combining action, violence, heart and humour, buyers have been jumping at the chance to bring it to their audiences.”
