Sky Germany spends Eight Days on new original

The German arm of pay TV giant Sky is developing Acht Tage (Eight Days) as its latest original programme.

Sky Germany is working with Munich-based production company Neuesuper on the drama, which will tell the story of the final eight days of mankind.

Each of the eight episodes will follow one of those last days.

Acht Tage is expected to go into production “in the middle of next year”, and will broadcast exclusively on Sky in Germany and Austria in 2018.

Stefan Ruzowitzky (Die Fälscher), Philipp Leinemann (Wir Waren Könige) and Michael Krummenacher (Heimatland) will direct.

Sky Germany’s director of drama programming, Frank Jastfelder, said Acht Tage had “immediately” appealed because it forces viewers to question how they would react in an extreme situation such as a world-ending event.

“Acht Tage provides emotional, always surprising and highly dramatic answers [that are seperate] from all Hollywood stereotypes,” he added.

Sky Germany has been upping its original drama productions since it became part of the larger Sky Europe group in 2014. Current projects include a Das Boot TV reworking and Babylon Berlin, a coproduction

The parent group is current subject to a takeover approach from leading shareholder 21^st Century Fox, though the deal has been widely criticised by shareholders this week over issues of cost and transparency.