London – Europe’s leader in production, rights acquisition, distribution and international sales of TV series and feature films, StudioCanal, has concluded a brand new deal in Russia for ratings-winning Swedish-French drama Midnight Sun.

Free-to-air broadcaster Channel One, Russia’s leading network with more than 250 million viewers worldwide, has secured the eight-part thriller to air in January 2017. This latest international acquisition for MIDNIGHT SUN, a CANAL+/SVT/Filmpool Nord coproduction from Atlantique Productions and Nice Drama, adds to a wide range of recently-announced deals in the UK (Sky), Germany (ZDF), Australia (SBS), Israel (HOT), Norway (NRK), Denmark (DR), Iceland (RUV), Finland (MTV3) Belgium (VRT) and Benelux (Lumière).

The highest rated Création Originale series launch in three years on France’s CANAL+, Midnight Sun has achieved wide critical acclaim in both France and Sweden. On SVT, the series debuted to a phenomenal 39.7% share, attracting an audience of 1.8 million.

Created by Mårlind & Stein (Bron/Broen), based on an idea by Henrik Jansson-Schweizer and Patrick Nebout, Midnight Sun is a high concept thriller set in a small mining community in remote northern Sweden where a series of brutal murders – which contrast starkly against the beauty of the landscape and the ethereal daylight – conceal a secret conspiracy. Starring Leïla Bekhti (The Prophet) and Gustaf Hammarsten (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Midnight Sun received the Audience Award at SeriesMania in Paris in April.