BBC Four Acquires UK Rights To 'Arne Dahl' & 'Inspector Da Luca' – TVWise

BBC Four has closed deals to acquire the exclusive first run UK broadcast rights to Arne Dahl & Inspector Da Luca, it has been announced. Both series are set to join BBC Four’s Saturday night line up later this year. In addition, the channel has also confirmed that they have picked up the rights to the new season of Inspector Montalbano, prequel series Young Montalbano, Borgen season 3, The Bridge season 2 and (as TVWise previously reported) Australian mini-series Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War.
Speaking of the acquisitions, Richard Klein, Controller of BBC Four, said: “These acquisitions are part of BBC Four’s ongoing mission to give viewers an excuse to stay in on a Saturday night by offering an entertaining alternative to Saturday television viewing. Arne Dahl continues in the tradition of The Killing and Wallander in portraying a social hinterland through the prism of the day-to-day of police investigation; and Inspector Da Luca is a clever and hugely entertaining drama that portrays wartime Italy in a way that is both very familiar to our own war time experiences and intriguingly foreign.”
While Sue Deeks, the BBC’s Head of Programme Acquisitions, added: “We are really thrilled with the increasing audience to, and appreciation of, BBC Four’s international drama offering – but we have no intention of resting on our laurels. This year BBC Four viewers can look forward to the return of existing favourites and brand new series which we hope will provide more compelling reasons to travel the world on a Saturday night!”
Arne Dahl is the pseudonym of award winning author Jan Arnald and this eponymous series is based on five of Dahl’s novels, beginning with The Blinded Man. Produced by by Filmlance International and written by Rolf Börjlind & Cecilia Börjlind, the series revolves around a tight-knit team of elite specialists who investigate the dark side of society.
Based on the novels by Carlo Lucarelli and produced by Ager 3/Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana, Inspector Da Luca is a four-part series set in and around Bologna during the tumultuous years of Mussolini’s dictatorship and follows Inspector Da Luca, an investigator whose brutal honesty and uncompromising character may help him solve cases, but combined with his love of women, they also conspire to get him in trouble.