Scripted

NBCUniversal has acquired The Sounds – a new scripted thriller distributed by all3media International, which will air on 13ÈME RUE in France, it was announced today.

The Sounds is set in New Zealand’s beautiful but remote Marlborough Sounds, and stars Rachelle Lefevre (Proven Innocent, Mary Kills People) and Matt Whelan (Go Girls, The Luminaries). It will launch on 13ème Rue in January 2021. The 8 x 1 hour drama is scheduled for the Sunday night Serial Thriller slot.

Created and written by bestselling novelist Sarah-Kate Lynch (The Bad Seed, 800 Words), The Sounds is a co-production by South Pacific Pictures and Shaftesbury for Acorn TV and CBC, Canada and Sky TV, New Zealand. The thriller takes a missing person and a blissful marriage and turns it upside down in the sleepy settlement of Pelorus, where nothing is quite as it seems.

The Sounds made its debut in New Zealand on Sky TV in September and on CBC in Canada in October. The eight-episode series is also presently available on Acorn’s SVOD service in US, Canada & UK.

Hector Lavigne, Head of Acquisitions and Productions at NBCUniversal, commented, “With its riveting twist-laden story, stunning landscapes and intriguing characters who all seem to have something to hide, The Sounds is the perfect new Sunday-night drama to grip our discerning 13ÈME RUE viewers. Premium international thrillers are always in strong demand on the channel and The Sounds will be a fantastic new addition to our schedules.”

Graham Spencer, SVP EMEA South at all3media International, added, “We’re delighted to continue our relationship with NBCUniversal to bring The Sounds to France, which adds to our recent successful collaborations with them - for example with Rellik.13ÈME RUE is a leading destination for distinctive original thrillers and we know it will prove very popular with French audiences.”


A terrified woman – one shoe missing, elegant clothes ripped – struggles against an overpowering attacker beneath the crystal-clear water of New Zealand’s remote Marlborough Sounds. This is Maggie Cabbott (Rachelle Lefevre) and she’s fighting for her life. Cut to… A sleek yacht alone in a vast empty sea. An angry environmentalist spitting on the ground. A jumble of human bones unearthed in a landslide. And a handsome man grinning at his adoring wife as he declares she’s going to get it – everything she ever wanted. This is Tom Cabbott (Matt Whelan) and he’s about to disappear.

Grieving wives, cheating husbands, epic embezzlement, threatening scrutiny and historic crime all collide to weave a complicated web stretching through the Sounds’ hidden valleys and deep waters. And at the centre of it all? Maggie. To outsiders she seems to have it all – wealth, beauty, brains, the ideal husband and the world at her feet. But there’s one thing Maggie needs to find the happy ending she’s always wanted. And to get it, she and Tom need a very clever plan in a specially chosen town to go off without a hitch. The problem? They chose the wrong town.

Produced by Mark Beesley (Westside, Step Dave) and directed by Peter Stebbings (Killjoys, Frankie Drake Mysteries), The Sounds is executive produced by Kelly Martin and Sally Campbell of South Pacific Pictures, Christina Jennings and Scott Garvie of Shaftesbury, and Bea Tammer and Catherine Mackin from Acorn Media Enterprises.