Acorn orders straight-to-series procedural

North American SVoD service Acorn TV has commissioned London Kills from Suspects scribe Paul Marquess, its first straight-to-series UK drama.

Shane Murphy

The series will chronicle the experiences of a team of murder detectives focusing on a different case in each episode, with the backdrop of the lead detective’s missing wife running throughout the series.

RLJ Entertainment-owned Acorn’s UK development subsidiary Acorn Media Enterprises will coproduce the drama with Marquess’s production outfit PGM TV.

Marquess (Footballers’ Wives) has created and co-written the series for television, with Acorn Media International distributing in all English-speaking territories and Germany’s ZDF Enterprises distributing to the rest of the world.

London Kills (10×60’), which will shoot seasons one and two back-to-back, is Acorn’s second solo commission following its revival of former Sky comedy-drama Agatha Raisin at the beginning of the year.

Shane Murphy, MD at Acorn Media Enterprises, said: “With its compelling, fast-paced scripts and the creativity of Paul Marquess, London Kills will make an excellent addition to Acorn TV’s rapidly growing originals slate.”

Acorn has been ramping up its programming slate recently, having acquired a number of series from FremantleMedia International this month. This news followed on from February’s announcement that the firm would be teaming up with Australian outfit Jungle Entertainment to coproduce family comedy Sando.