ORF, ZDF taste Vienna Blood

Vienna Blood stars Juergen Maurer (left) and Matthew Beard

MIPCOM: Austrian public broadcaster ORF is teaming up with ZDF in Germany to commission an English-language crime drama starring Matthew Beard and Juergen Maurer.

Red Arrow-owned UK prodco Endor Productions, Mr Film in Austria and Red Arrow’s distribution arm are all working on Vienna Blood, based on the best-selling novels by Frank Tallis.

The series will consist of three feature-length episodes titled Liebermann when it airs in Austria and Germany. Steve Thompson (Deep State, Sherlock) is adapting it for TV.

Production will begin in Vienna later this month, directed by Academy Award nominee Robert Dornhelm (Anne Frank: The Whole Story) and Umut Dag (Cracks in Concrete).

The three features will be based on Tallis’ first three books in the Liebermann Papers series of novels, and the films will be called Vienna Blood: The Last Seance, Vienna Blood: The Realm of Night and Vienna Blood: Fatal Lies.

Set in the city in the early 1900’s, the plot focuses on a protégé of Sigmund Freud who helps a detective inspector solve an unusual and disturbing murder.

Red Arrow Studios International will handle global sales.