The Bridge has been adapted by the US/Mexico and the UK/France

Sky Deutschland is partnering with leading German prodco Wiedemann & Berg Television on an eight-part crime drama loosely based on hit Scandinavian drama The Bridge.

Der Pass centres on the discovery of grotesque corpses found in the Alps along the German-Austrian border and the detectives from both countries trying to find the serial killer responsible.

Sky said the series was “inspired by the motifs” of The Bridge, Hans Rosenfeldt’s mystery drama produced by Sweden’s SVT1 and Denmark’s DR1, but would tell a new story with different characters.

Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann, the team behind forthcoming drama Dark, Netflix’s first German original, will produce Der Pass for Sky, with Dieter and Jakob Pochlatko’s Vienna-based Epo-Film coproducing.

Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert will write and direct the show. Backed by regional funder FFF Bayern with €700,000 (US$777,712), Der Pass is set to shoot on location this fall and scheduled to premiere exclusively on Sky in Germany and Austria as part of the 2018/19 season.

“As great fans of the Danish-Swedish The Bridge, we are looking forward to developing a similar multi-layered story with ambivalent characters and unpredictable twists out of Germany – the first ideas immediately thrilled us,” said Marcus Ammon, Sky Deutschland’s senior VP of fiction and entertainment. “We look forward to working with Wiedemann & Berg and Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert.”

Berg likewise stressed the significance of the Scandinavian show. “Inspired by The Bridge, one of the most successful European quality brands in international TV, with Der Pass we will produce an original German-Austrian thriller series that will transport us into the visually stunning world of the Alps.”

The miniseries is Sky’s fourth original German-language production following the forthcoming period crime drama Babylon Berlin, Das Boot and doomsday thriller Acht Tage. Sky also coproduced Norwegian broadcaster TV2’s Borderline, which is set to premiere later this year.