Virgin buys ‘Flemish noir’ brothel drama

UK pay TV service Virgin Media has acquired exclusive rights to a ‘Flemish noir’ drama about an infamous brothel-lined street in Belgium.

The deal for Chaussée d’Amour, which is considered ‘the ‘first’ original Flemish pay TV series locally, will see Virgin TV Full House customers given access on-demand.

The series, produced in Dutch with English subtitles, runs to ten hours.

It comes from noir-influenced duo Frank Devos and Pieter Van Hees, and was coproduced by Virgin parent Liberty global, Belgian prodco DeMensen and cousin pay TV operation Telenet. Germany’s ZDFneo and ZDF Enterprises were also attached, with the latter holding distribution rights.

The character-driven drama follows a distinguished woman who is forced inherit a brothel after her father dies unexpectedly, while supporting her young children and building a new life in the midst of a murder investigation.

Virgin has been pushing into original content through the acquisition of series such as Magic City and Ash Vs Evil Dead, and has dipped its toes into commissioning.

Despite Chaussée d’Amour coming from Liberty, the deal is not part of Virgin’s international coproduction deal with Liberty cousin All3Media.

“For Virgin TV the launch of Chaussée d’Amour represents an exciting step into the evolving and provocative realm of ‘Flemish noir,’ which is in keeping with our strong record of bringing new, exclusive programming designed to challenge and excite customers,” said Virgin’s chief entertainment officer, David Bouchier.

The show will be available through Virgin TV and TiVo set-top boxes, the Virgin TV Everywhere app and iOS and Android devices.