Australian drama starring Tim Roth Last King of the Cross was picked up by Sky in Europe and marks the first major sale of the Paramount+ series heading to Mipcom Cannes.
Sky picked up the show for its service in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Germany, completing the deal with distributor Cineflix Rights.
Inspired by John Ibrahim’s best-selling autobiography, Helium stars as Oscar-nominated Roth as Ezra Shipman, a king’s cross nightclub leader in Sydney in the 1980s and 1990s. Roth replaced Ian McShane in one of the leads earlier this year.
Lincoln Younes and Claude Jabbour also lead as two Lebanese teenagers who arrive in Australia and quickly delve into an underworld and make a name for themselves when the cocaine wave hits Kings Cross.
Paramount+ Australia has greenlit the show and Cineflix Rights is the exclusive international distributor. Produced by Mark Fennessy and Karl Zwicky and executive produced by Fennessy and Ibrahim, the drama is written by Kieran Darcy-Smith, Morgan O’Neill, Jane Allen, Alastair Newton Brown, Matt Nable and James Pope and co-written by Darcy-Smith, Grant Brown , Catherine Millar and Ian Watson.
Cineflix Rights Head of Scripted James Durie described Sky Atlantic as the “perfect home”.
“Set in the crime-ridden but very sexy Kings Cross area of Sydney in the 1980s/90s, this series really has tremendous appeal for international buyers,” he added.