Channel 4 Picks Up UK Rights To 'The Returned' Season 2 – TVWise

Channel 4 has closed a deal with Zodiak Rights to acquire the exclusive first run UK broadcast rights to the second season of the French drama series The Returned (aka Les Revenants). The show’s second season, which was recently commissioned by Canal+, consists of 8 episodes and will air in late 2014.
The Returned is based on the 2004 feature film They Came Back and is set in a small Alpine village, where a small group of men, women and children find themselves in a state of confusion, trying to return to their homes. What they do not yet know is that they have been dead for several years, and no-one is expecting them back. What is more their arrival coincides with a series of gruesome murders which bear a chilling resemblance to the work of a serial killer from the past. The drama series is produced by Haut et Court TV & Canal+ Original Programming and stars Anne Consigny (César Award for Best Supporting Actress, 2008), Clotilde Hesme (Trois mondes, Les Chansons d’amour), Celine Sallette (House of Tolerance), Guillaume Gouix (Jimmy Riviere), Frederic Pierrot (Polisse) and Samir Guesmi.
The pick up of the show’s second season comes after the ratings success that Channel 4 saw with The Returned. The series, which was the first subtitled series to air on the flagship channel in 20 years, averaged an audience of 1.8 million viewers and a 7% share in its 9pm time-slot. The deal with Zodiak also comes shortly after Channel 4 inked a deal with Sony Pictures Television to acquire the Showtime drama series Masters of Sex, which is being eyed for an October premiere.