Scripted

Keshet International (KI) has picked up the distribution rights to Norwegian dramedy Pørni and documentary series Surrounded by Enemies as well as Serbian crime drama Grupa for its spring slate.

All three series will be unveiled at KI’s virtual London Screenings event today.

Created by and starring Henriette Steenstrup, Pørni is a 6×30’ comedy-drama about a working single mum with two daughters, one nephew and a dad having a late-life crisis who puts everyone else first ahead of herself. It is produced by Monster Scripted for NENT Group’s streaming service Viaplay.

Surrounded by Enemies is also produced by Monster Scripted for Viaplay and comes from filmmakers Henrik Evertsson and Jørn Norstøm. The 6×60’ docuseries investigates the rise of far-right extremist groups from within, engaging individual members in dialogue about their hatred and distrust of society and democracy to show why this is a growing global issue.

Produced by Vision Team for Serbia’s RTS, Grupa (The Group), meanwhile, is a 12×60’ portrait of modern Belgrade focusing on a police inspector’s investigation as it extends beyond teenage drug dealers into something much more dangerous. The drama was the highest-rated TV show in Serbia in 2020.

These latest additions join three other drama series, one documentary and three formats on KI’s spring slate.

In drama, upcoming thriller Furia (8×60’), coproduced by Monster Scripted and X Filme for Viaplay and Germany’s ZDF, is being marketed as a companion piece to Surrounded by Enemies.

Set in Oslo and Berlin, Furia centres on an undercover operative who has penetrated a far-right extremist terror cell. Elsewhere, a former special ops officer is living the quiet life in Norway after escaping from the Russian underworld and assuming a new identity. When their two worlds collide, they face a race against the clock to prevent the unthinkable from happening on German soil.

Also in drama is Keshet 12’s recently launched crime drama Line in the Sand (8×60’), which was created by Fauda writers Yuval Yefet and director Rotem Shamir.

Set 15 years ago and inspired by real events, the show follows an idealistic and morally unshakable police detective who leaves behind a high-flying career to return to his home town, where he finds a city in turmoil and the residents in the iron grip of tyranny.

The final drama series is dark comedy Unter Freunden Stirbt Man Nicht (You Don’t Die Among Friends), which is the German adaptation of Israeli series Stockholm.

Produced by Germany’s Keshet Tresor Fiction, the 4×45’ series centres on the death of a renowned scientist and candidate for a Nobel Prize in business. His friends come up with a daring plan: to keep his death secret for the five days until the nominations are announced.

The documentary on KI’s spring slate is 9/11: The 20-Year Anniversary (1×90’), which is being produced by Top Hat for BBC1 in the UK in time for the anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks in the US. It has already been pre-sold to Discovery in the US, Canal+ Group in France, TV2 in Denmark, TV4 in Sweden and RTL in the Netherlands.

KI’s formats include dating show Singletown, which was originally produced by Keshet Productions for ITV2 in the UK. The format follows five couples who press pause on their relationships by living the single life. At the end of each week, the couples meet and must decide whether to reunite and leave the programme as a couple or stay single and remain on the show.

Elsewhere, 60-minute music-based gameshow format The Hit List was originally developed and produced by Tuesday’s Child for BBC1. The show sees pairs of contestants compete to be the first to guess the name of and artist behind well-known songs from a variety of genres and decades.

The final format is upcoming Israeli baking competition show The Perfect Dessert, in which contestants compete to bake the best-looking and best-tasting desserts. Due to debut on Keshet 12 this summer, the series comes from July August Productions.