Neon Nabs Top Euro Crime Dramas

Seasons 4-5 of Hacks and Mayor of Kingstown, S3 of Blue Lights, S1 of Starfleet Academy, Das Boot S2-4, Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Amadeus are just some of the series that remain lost in the streaming ether.

But while they still want for a NZ platform, at least Sky is starting to pick up some of this market’s distribution casualties.

As part of it’s expanded Paramount Global deal, it soon will screen spy drama The Agency and from next month will stream S1-5 of Gomorrah on Neon.

Gomorrah is a scorching gangster drama spun off the Italian movie of the same name that ran from 2014-2021 (Sight & Sound dubbed it “Italy’s answer to Breaking Bad“).

Five years after screening S1, Sky at last resumes the series, initially for Neon (May 12).

There’s more good news for those wondering whatever-happened-to …? Another European series inspired by a movie, The Crimson Rivers, will stream on Neon from the same day.

About two detectives investigating brutal crimes in remote France, The Guardian actually thought it “a step up from the 2000 Mathieu Kassovitz film based on the same source material … a compelling French thriller in which almost every word uttered by an absurdly attractive cast is loaded with sexual tension …

“Beneath the flirting lies a substantial plot.”

Similarly, Pagan Peak (May 12) is a German-Austro Sky Original about another detective duo trying to solve dark crimes grounded in local customs.

Despite its awards, The Guardian wasn’t quite as impressed, likening it to a shameless rip-off of The Bridge (which also streams next month on Neon).

But website Foreign Crime Drama thought it “the same, yet different … a tight, stripped down version that has its own merits”.

Also worth a look should be Wisting S1-4, which is named after a homicide cop whose serial killer investigation conflicts with his journalist daughter’s news scoop.

The Globe and Mail said this “terse thriller” may sound “somewhat predictable, but what shifts the narrative after several episodes is not predictable”.

Raved The Observer: “Wisting is the best Nord-noir ever. Since the last one.”