Sky expands Starz relationship, co-commissions boxing crime drama Fightland

US cable network Starz and European pay TV giant Sky have partnered to jointly commission Fightland, a crime drama from G-Unit Film & Television that is set in the world of British boxing.

Kathryn Busby

The companies said the co-commissioning deal also includes a provision giving Sky a first look at upcoming Starz shows that it may want to partner on. Starz previously acquired the five-part Sky Atlantic series Amadeus, while the two networks also previously partnered on the dark comedy thriller Sweetpea.

Executive produced by Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, Fightland stars Howard Charles (The Muskateers, Whitstable Pearl) as a disgraced, formerly imprisoned boxing champion who returns to London to seek vengeance against the crime family he thinks betrayed him.

Production recently wrapped in London, with the show slated to premiere in the US on Starz later this year. It will also be broadcast on Sky’s streaming platform Now in the UK and Ireland. London-based Expanded Media produces the show alongside G-Unit Film & Television.

The eight-episode drama was first announced by Starz last May, but at the time no British network was announced as being attached. It is Starz’s first wholly owned series after it embarked on a new strategy following its split from Lionsgate Studios last year.

Damione Macedon and Raphael Jackson Jr serve as showrunners, executive producers and writers, with Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith also executive producing and writing. In addition to Jackson, other exec producers include Francis Hopkinson (Wallander, Bancroft) and Kate Leadbetter (Woman in White, Catherine the Great).

“We’re thrilled to be stepping back in the ring with our partners at Sky and look forward to building upon the next chapter of our long-standing creative collaboration together,” said Starz’s president of original programming Kathryn Busby.