The Nordic crime drama “The Bridge” (S1-4) has been sold by ZDF Enterprises to the BBC, with the series airing simultaneously on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer, the second time this title has been licensed to the UK public broadcaster.
Yi Qiao, ZDF Enterprises‘ Director at ZDFE.drama for English-speaking territories and Scandinavia, brokered the deal. Originally shown on BBC Four (2012-2015), the series was so successful it moved to BBC Two for the final fourth season (2018), consistently winning over 1.5 million British viewers.
An international hit, “The Bridge” proved to be so popular it has been remade five times across the following countries: UK/France, USA/Mexico, Estonia/Russia, Malaysia/Singapore and Germany/Austria. Winner of two Golden Nymph Awards, the series stars Swedish actress Sofia Helin as the incomparable Saga Norén; and Danish actors Kim Bodnia and Thure Lindhardt.
“Every once in a while, a drama comes along that is so brilliantly written and acted, it transcends language barriers and has audiences begging for more. ‘The Bridge’, with one of the most captivating female detectives ever to grace the small screen, belongs in that category. A timeless classic which British audiences will, once again, get a chance to enjoy,” said Robert Franke, VP ZDFE.drama.
“The Bridge,” created and written by Hans Rosenfeldt, is produced by Filmlance (Sweden) and Nimbus Film (Denmark) in co-production with ZDF, DR, SVT and ZDF Enterprises, which is also the global distributor for the series. Worldwide sales for the 38 hour series so far include the BBC, Amazon, Antena TV, Arrow Films, AXN Spain, Bontonfilm, Canal+, Czech TV, Directv, Estonia Public Broadcasting, Fox Cable Network, Fox International, Globosat, Google, Hotvision, HRT, Hulu, Ivi.ru, Joyn, LTV, MHz Networks, Netflix, PopTV, RSI, RTS, SBS, Sky Italy and Germany, Studiocanal, Telekom Germany, TFC, TG4, TRT, and many others.