Viaplay, Alibi, SBS & Disney+ buy Icelandic thriller ‘Black Sands’

Black Sands

Viaplay, UK network Alibi, SBS in Australia and Disney+ are among buyers of Icelandic drama Black Sands, which has been extended into a second season by local commissioning broadcaster, Channel 2.

The crime thriller is produced by Icelandic indie Glassriver in association with All3Media International, which has struck a first season deal with Viaplay that covers the US and “multiple European territories”.

Black Sands will air in the UK on UKTV’s crime channel Alibi, marking its first foreign language drama, while Disney+ has acquired the thriller in the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Canal+ has taken the series in Poland.

SBS in Oz has also acquired the eight-parter, alongside Japan’s AXN Mystery Channel, Chinese streamer Pumpkin Film and Upstream Media in the Philippines.

These new deals add to previously announced presales to VRT in Belgium and YLE in Finland. VRT is also a co-production partner on the drama.

The show is directed by Baldvin Z (Trapped) and centres on a young police detective who is forced to confront her past as she investigates a series of mysterious deaths in her hometown.