True Vision/Channel 4 series set to air on Topic as distributor tops 30 hours of US deals.

Orange Smarty, the independent distributor and financing house that specialises in multiplatform factual content, reports over 30 hours of stateside sales for its award-winning slate of true-crime factual content. 

The latest US deal sees all episodes of Catching A Killer go to First Look Entertainment’s streaming service Topic, which specialises in crime, suspense and thrillers from around the world. The deal was brokered by Jennifer Liang, Vice President of Program Strategy, Acquisitions and Sales at Topic, and Amy Kemp, Head of Sales for Orange Smarty.

Now in its second series, Catching a Killer was produced for Channel 4 by UK indie True Vision and Candour Productions. Billed as “the real-life Inspector Morse”, the gripping murder hunt has been picked up by broadcasters around the world,including Foxtel and ABC in Australia, DR Denmark and TV4 Sweden, AVROTROS in the Netherlands, MTV Oy Finland, VRT Belgium, NHK Japan and YLE Finland.

The BAFTA- and RTS-winning series follows the Thames Valley Police, which granted the documentary-maker unprecedented access to its Major Crimes Unit over a two-year period. The result is a powerful television experience that takes viewers beyond the blue flashing lights into a world of complex partnerships and long hours of detailed work.
"Catching a Killer is not your average true crime series,” said Liang. “The investigators bring our viewers unprecedented 360-degree access to their cases in real time. We’re so pleased to add Orange Smarty as a new source for our premium crime and suspense programming.”

Karen Young added: ‘The US is a key market for any distributor and our ability to nimbly seek out opportunity through longstanding relationships has seen us deliver some very fruitful returns.’ 

The Topic sale is the second high-profile US deal in recent months for Orange Smarty’s crime content. In April, AETN acquired 26 hours of Peninsula Television’s Sleeping with a Killer (released in the UK as Green Eyed Killers) for its new Life & Crime Mondays block on Lifetime. Originally produced for Crime+Investigation UK, the series focuses on killings motivated by jealousy — the most common cause of relationship and spousal murder cases worldwide. The 26 x 52 mins series, which examines the events that triggered these murders and the complex process of bringing the perpetrators to justice, has also been acquired by AETN Latin America and Asia and Foxtel Australia.