C4 & Starz line up Eagle Eye adaptation of Dutch drama ‘New Neighbours’, with Sam Heughan

Sam Heughan

Channel 4 in the UK and US network Starz have ordered a six-part thriller adapted from Dutch series New Neighbours (aka The Swingers), with Eagle Eye Drama attached to produce and Outlander’s Sam Heughan starring.

The Couple Next Door explores “the stultifying claustrophobia of suburbia” and tracks what happens when a man shares a night of passion with his troubled neighbour.

David Allison (Marcella) has written the script and Dries Vos (Professor T) will direct, with the series produced by Jen Burnet, and Eagle Eye’s Jo McGrath, Walter Iuzzolino and Alison Kee exec producing.

Heughan stars alongside Eleanor Tomlinson (The Outlaws), Jessica De Gouw (Pennyworth) and Alfred Enoch (How To Get Away With Murder).

The show marks the first coproduction between C4 and Starz, with the latter taking rights in the US and Canada, as well as on streamer Lionsgate+ in Latin America. Germany’s Beta Film sells elsewhere.

It is based on Nieuwe Buren, the Pupkin Films series that debuted in 2014 on RTL4 and Videoland, before being picked up for international streaming platform Walter Presents. Eagle Eye, the streamer’s production arm that launched in 2019, has previously adapted international shows such Face To Face (Forhøret) from Denmark, which was remade for C4 as Suspect.

The Couple Next Door is the third collaboration between Heughan and Starz, with the network’s president of originals Kathryn Busby describing the show as a “provocative series.”

C4 head of drama, Caroline Hollick, added: “This series is an addictive, emotional roller-coaster with something to say about modern sexual mores, with an electrifying cast that will set our screens on fire.”

McGrath concluded: “At the heart of this series are two couples who get increasingly close to each other, and one fateful night become sexually entangled in a way that will change the rest of their lives forever. You never really know what goes on behind closed doors but this series sets out to make you wonder.”