The new series of Twin Peaks is one of the most hotly anticipated TV events in crime drama land – well it is in this house – even though it won’t appear on screens until 2017. However, with everything now hunky dory between David Lynch and its US home, Showtime, and with production continuing apace, attention naturally turns to the question: who will show it here in the UK? That question was emphatically answered today.
Sky – for it is them! – did a deal a few years ago with HBO, guaranteeing exclusive access to their new and back-catalogue content, and now the network has done a deal with HBO’s US cable channel rival, Showtime, too.
Which basically means that Twin Peaks will be show in the UK on Sky Atlantic when it’s ready for broadcast a year from now.
Here’s all the corporate spiel from a naturally delighted Sky:
Sky and CBS Corporation today announced a long-term licensing agreement for Sky Atlantic to be the exclusive home to SHOWTIME’s growing portfolio of programming across all its territories in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. Previously, Sky has licensed select Showtime content from CBS on a programme by programme basis.
The deal will span all new and future series including Billions, which premiered in the US with the best series debut performance ever for a SHOWTIME original series. Other new series include the return of Twin Peaks and new seasons of hits such as Ray Donovan and The Affair. The agreement also means customers will have on-demand access to an acclaimed catalogue of premium SHOWTIME programming including Californication, Dexter and Nurse Jackie.
As good a channel as Sky Atlantic is, I can’t help think that this is a shame. I grew up watching Twin Peaks on BBC2, and it would’ve have been great to see it on free-to-air television.
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