Exclusive Arrangement for Neon

Sky’s acquired for an exclusive season on its streaming service an E! channel drama about an arranged celebrity marriage that Variety dubbed “an addictive, horrific fantasy out of real-life tabloid drama and rumours about the Church of Scientology”.

Neon will stream the 10-part series in HD in August but, like Turn and Manhattan, Sky doesn’t plan to to screen it on any of its linear channels.

The show averaged a 61% rating on MetaCritic and has been renewed.

“The pilot offers a promising start at a deeper, more delectable drama underneath the glitz and the glam,” said Entertainment Weekly after quipping: “E! should write Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes a check.

“Who would watch a show about an arranged marriage between Hollywood actors if they didn’t think of Cruise and Holmes right away?”

“The reality, after three episodes, is that The Arrangement both is and isn’t clearly based on Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes,” The Hollywood Reporter argued.

“The premise is entirely lifted from the aroma around that relationship, our sense of its contrivances and compromises and the looming figure of Scientology behind it all.

“But on a practical and realistic level, of course it’s not literally about that specific couple. If it were, it would surely be more seductive and, probably, more entertaining.”