Scripted

CANAL+ today announced that it will be the exclusive home of the six-part thriller series, Night in Paradise for Austria, Slovakia and Czech Republic as well as Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Romania. Produced by Windlight Pictures, part of ITV Studios, Night in Paradise is based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Frank Schmolke and centres on a nightmarish world where lost souls battle for their lives. It will be available to stream on the CANAL+ app in Q1 2024.

Night in Paradise follows Jürgen Vogel (The Wave, The Team, Jenseits der Spree) as Vincent and Lea Drinda (The Gryphon, We Children from Bahnhof Zoo) as Joni, a father-daughter-duo on a nocturnal horror trip through a deceitful metropolis. Birgit Minichmayr also stars as a mysterious heroine of the dark world.

Taxi driver Vincent and his estranged daughter, Joni, drift separately through the city, as all around them capitalism is crumbling. Grumpy, divorced and struggling to keep afloat, Vincent must accept he is no longer needed. His profession is about to die out, and Joni, whose life he longs to be a part of, considers him a stranger and is making her own way in the world. But apocalyptic events on one fateful night are about to force their lives to collide one more time. As their old wounds are reopened and the city erupts, will they both be pushed too far?

Martijn van Hout, Country Manager DACH at CANAL+ about the cooperation: “CANAL+ stands for great, European stories and unique content. With Night in Paradise we secured the first CANAL+ Original fiction production with a strong ensemble around Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr. We are proud that we can present the series exclusively in other eight countries within the CANAL+ Group and hence strengthen our positioning as a significant content-brand.

Moritz Polter, Managing Director, Windlight Pictures, said “I am thrilled to announce that Night in Paradise will be available to stream on CANAL+, a broadcaster that stands for quality throughout Europe and is a reliable partner.
Producing our first series under the ITV Studios umbrella for Windlight Pictures has truly been a wild ride. We are all the more proud of what we believe to be a product that is unique in the German and international TV market.”

Night in Paradise is written by award-winning filmmaker Matthias Glasner (Das Boot) and Hannah Schopf (Tiger Girl), with Glasner also directing the majority of the series alongside Bettina Oberli (My Wonderful Wanda).

Windlight Pictures was founded by Das Boot executive producer Moritz Polter. Heinrich Ambrosch and his company Satel Film serve as co-producers and ITV Studios distributes Night in Paradise internationally. The series is supported by the German Motion Picture Fund, Medienboard. Berlin-Brandenburg, the Belgian Tax Shelter Regime and Wallimage. Belga Productions handled physical production in Belgium.

Night in Paradise was commissioned by StarzPlay as its first German-language original. Following StarzPlay’s exit from the German and other international markets, Windlight Pictures sought new commissioning and licensing partners, with CANAL+ to be the first one coming on board.