Buyers in Oz, NZ, Ireland, Sweden pick up Channel 5 heist drama Desperate Measures

Amanda Abbington in Desperate Measures

Broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden and Finland have pre-bought UK broadcaster Channel 5’s drama series Desperate Measures from distributor Eccho Rights.

SBS has acquired the series for Australia, TVNZ has picked it up in New Zealand, while in Europe, Virgin Media Television in Ireland, TV4 in Sweden and MTV3 in Finland have all licensed the four-part show.

Produced by Clapperboard, the action thriller is set to launch in the first quarter of this year in the UK on the Paramount Global-owned channel and stars Amanda Abbington (Sherlock) as a diligent, hardworking single mother called Rowan who turns to a daring heist to save her son from a local drug lord.

Alongside Abington, Desperate Measures stars Warren Brown (The Responder), Sunetra Sarker (Casualty) and Francis Magee (Game of Thrones).

The series is directed by Anthony Philipson (Our Girl), produced by Helen Ostler (The Last Kingdom), while Mike Benson and Julie Ryan are executive producers for Clapperboard.

For Night Train Media-owned Eccho Rights, Adam Barth and recently retired co-founder Nicola Söderlund also serve as executive producers.