Acorn, TVNZ go Under the Vines

AMC Networks-owned streamer Acorn TV and New Zealand broadcaster TVNZ have jointly commissioned a romantic comedy called Under the Vines.

Rebecca Gibney

Wellington-based prodco Libertine Pictures (Daffodils, Mystic) and Australia’s EQ Media Group (At Home with Julia, Wednesday Night Fever) are behind the six-parter, which has been created and co-written by Erin White.

The cast is led by Rebecca Gibney (Wanted, Packed to the Rafters, Winter) and Charles Edwards (The Crown, The Terror, Downton Abbey), who star as two unlikely city slickers who inherit a failing vineyard in rural New Zealand.

Production will begin in early February 2021 in Central Otago, New Zealand. Acorn TV has all rights worldwide with the exception of NZ.

Acorn TV will give the show its world premiere in the US, Canada, the UK, Latin America, Australia, Spain, Portugal and others in 2021, followed by TVNZ with the New Zealand premiere.

The series’ other writers are Tim Balme (The Sounds, The Brokenwood Mysteries), Nick Ward, J C Stewart-Te Whiu, Kathryn Burnett and Harry McNaughton.

Under the Vines will be produced by Carmen J Leonard and executive produced by Rebecca Gibney alongside Richard Fletcher for Libertine Pictures and Brendan Dahill for EQ Media Group.