Amazon snags UK rights to Eleventh Hour’s spy thriller ‘Alex Rider’

Alex Rider

Amazon Prime Video has acquired UK rights to Alex Rider, the coming of age spy-thriller series based on Anthony Horowitz’s novel franchise.

The show is based on Point Blanc, the second book from the Alex Rider series of novels, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. It will premiere on Prime Video in the UK on 4 June, with all eight episodes available for UK Prime members to stream.

The story, which stars Otto Farrant as Alex Rider, follows a London-based teenager who has unknowingly been trained since childhood for the dangerous world of espionage. As he investigates his uncle’s death, Rider uncovers a dangerous plot at a remote boarding school called Point Blanc, which is attended by troubled teenage children of the ultra-rich.

The show also stars Stephen Dillane and Vicky McClure, while Horowitz serves as an executive producer alongside Jill Green, Eve Gutierrez, series writer Guy Burt, and Andreas Prochaska, who also co-directed the series with Christopher Smith.

It was produced by Sony Pictures Television-owned Eleventh Hour Films, whose former MD Nicole Finnan stepped down earlier this year, as revealed by TBI. The Amazon UK sale of the drama, which was previously with ITV, is the only deal to have been confirmed to date.

Eleventh Hour has also been behind dramas such as BBC One’s New Blood, and Safe House and Collision for ITV. The latter was redeveloped for NBC in the US in 2016.

Chris Bird, Amazon’s head of content for the European Union, said: “Fans of the book franchise will be delighted to hear that this new series is created by Alex Rider author Anthony Horowitz, alongside outstanding talent both in front and behind the camera.”

Horowitz added: “This is such a huge, popular platform and feels like a natural home for the series. I hope that this is the start of a long creative partnership… with another 12 books ready to go!”

“At a time when the world is looking for heroes, who better to come to our aid than Alex Rider?” said Wayne Garvie, Sony Pictures Television, president of international production.