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SBS on Demand: Taboo, Greyzone Counterpart

SBS On Demand releasing three new dramas for winter.

SBS On Demand releasing three new dramas Taboo, Greyzone & Counterpart for winter.

Counterpart, from 10:30pm on Saturday, 16 June.
Greyzone –  Thursday, 21 June
Taboo – Season 1 Monday, 16 July.

SBS On Demand General Manager, Abigail Thomas, said: “SBS On Demand provides Australians with a window to the world, offering a distinctive and unique selection of must-see programs available to view anytime and anywhere on a device of their choice. These new series’ expand SBS’s global catalogue of quality dramas so Australian audiences can explore while staying warm this winter.”

A thrilling twist on the traditional spy drama, Counterpart is set in the captivating world of espionage, intrigue and government conspiracies, featuring a double dose of Academy Award winner, J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, Spider-Man). The 10-part drama has already received a glowing reception from international audiences and critics alike, with a “Certified Fresh” rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Counterpart follows Howard Silk (J.K. Simmons), a lowly cog in the bureaucratic machinery of a Berlin-based spy agency. When he discovers that his organisation is hiding a secret gateway into a parallel dimension, Howard is thrust into a shadowy world of intrigue, danger and double crossing… where the only man he can trust is Prime (also played by Simmons), his near-identical ‘counterpart’ from this parallel world.

Greyzone centres on the events leading up to a planned terror attack in Scandinavia, featuring Birgitte Hjort Sørensen (Borgen, Pitch Perfect 2) as a brilliant drone engineer Victoria Rahbek, who is taken hostage by the terrorist group. Victoria must risk everything to steal the equipment these terrorists demand, while also working as a double agent for the police, who will do anything to avert the attack. Nevertheless, beneath the hate, distress and prejudice, feelings begin to emerge between Victoria and her captor. Will they able to look beyond their differences and can the attack be prevented?

Set in 1814, Taboo follows James Keziah Delaney (Tom Hardy – The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road), a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father’s legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking in every dark corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence. The series was created by Hardy alongside Steven Knight and Chips Hardy and executive produced by Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott.

7 Responses

  1. The SBS is showing the way for the ABC who should have grabbed Taboo for their weekend prime time viewing, but having said that the ABC have decided their main focus as a broadcaster is light entertainment and news so a show like Counterpart would become lost as has a few other shows the ABC have broadcast in recent months, for the SBS the advantage of having an upgraded SBS on Demand keeps them ahead of the streaming app pack at least on FTA.

    1. SBS aren’t broadcasting Counterpart and the ABC aren’t broadcasting Killing Eve (which is doing OK on iView with minimal promotion and seemed to be a show SBS would have wanted for On Demand). SBS are running an ad for Taboo for On Demand at the moment.

  2. Sometimes SBS puts in money early to secure all Australian rights for a show, sometimes they buy broadcast + catch-up, or broadcast plus VOD, or just VOD for On Demand. Sometimes they broadcast first, sometimes they stream On Demand first. SBS did announce Taboo in their upfronts for 2018 which would imply it will air on SBS sometime. I thought Taboo had only aired on BBC First in this country so far.

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