Japan’s AXN acquires slew of dramas from Germany’s Beta Film, led by Hudson & Rex

John Reardon and Rex in Cannes

MIPTV: Japanese pay TV broadcaster AXN has picked up a raft of international drama series from Germany’s Beta Film, including the first three seasons of Canadian canine cop procedural Hudson & Rex (100×60’).

John Reardon, the actor who plays Hudson in the show, as well as Rex (aka Diesel von Burgimwald) celebrated the series reaching its 100-episode mark on Sunday at MipTV in Cannes after the international premiere of season 4 as part of Canneseries.

Also on the slate heading to AXN are Nordic series Agent Hamilton (18×60’), German series Faster Than Fear (6×60’), Turkish drama Persona (12×60’), Canadian drama Arctic Air (35×60’) and Rex Special Unit (24×60’) – the Italian spin-off of Hudson & Rex.

Meanwhile, Japan’s AXN Mystery has bagged crime drama Professor T (18×60’) and the original Rex – A Cop’s Best Friend (179×60’).

Hudson & Rex is produced by Shaftesbury, Pope Productions and Beta Film for Canada’s Citytv and has been sold into over 120 territories worldwide, Beta said today. Professor T, meanwhile, is a UK series produced by Eagle Eye Drama for ITV and PBS. Arctic Air is produced by Omni Film Productions.

Faster Than Fear is produced by Rowboat Film & Fernsehproduktion for MDR/ARD Degeto; Persona is produced by Ay Yapim for Puhu TV; and Agent Hamilton is produced by Dramacorp Pampas Studios, Kärnfilm, Beta Film and ZDF Studios for TV4/C-More and ZDF. Rex Special Unit was produced by Beta Film and Dog’s Life produced for Rai TV.

Rex – A Cop’s Best Friend, upon which the Canadian and Italian remakes were based, was produced by Mungo Film for Sat.1. The show has aired in 125 countries around the world for 18 seasons with numerous international format adaptations.

Beta is in Cannes with new dramas including AI surveillance thriller Concordia (6×60’) by multiple Emmy winner Frank Doelger (The Swarm, Game of Thrones); drama Estonia (8×60’) from Måns Månsson (Chernobyl, Snabba Cash), centring on the sinking of the ferry MS Estonia in 1994; and Elsa Morante’s La Storia, starring Jasmine Trinca (The Gunman) and based on Morante’s critically acclaimed 1974 novel of the same name.