{"id":175733,"date":"2025-10-02T18:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/175733\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T18:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:45:13","slug":"showtime-acquires-the-guest-coldwater-from-itv-studios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/175733\/","title":{"rendered":"Showtime Acquires ‘The Guest’ & ‘Coldwater’ From ITV Studios"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Showtime<\/a> is in the market for British drama again, acquiring a pair of series from ITV Studios<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe can reveal the Paramount-owned Showtime snapped up The Guest<\/a> and Coldwater<\/a>, deals that follow its recent acquisition of <\/a>BBC Studios<\/a> drama Reunion. Most U.S. networks have been relatively cold on British drama in recent years, but Showtime is breaking the mould.<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst up, The Guest will debut on Friday, October 17 via streaming on Paramount+ for Premium plan subscribers before an on-air debut two days later on Sunday, October 19 at 9 p.m. ET\/PT on Paramount+ with\u00a0Showtime\u00a0in the US. Coldwater will get an early 2026 launch.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Guest, which ITV Studios-owned Quay St Productions produced, debuted on BBC One in the UK in September. The four-episode thriller series stars Eve Myles (The Crow Girl, Broadchurch) and Gabrielle Creevy (Black Doves, Three Women) combines action, intrigue and twists, and themes of class and social mobility. It follows two unlikely friends as their lives begin to unravel.<\/p>\n

\n\tMatthew Barry (Men Up, Industry) is the writer and Ashley Way (Men Up, Who is Erin Carter?) the director. They also serve as Executive Producers alongside Quay Street founder Nicola Shindler (Happy Valley, It\u2019s A Sin) and Davina Earl (Men Up, The Red King). Sion Daniel Young, Emun Elliott, Bethan Mary-James, Julian Lewis Jones, Joseph Ollman, Clive Russell and Catherine Ayers also star.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s a trailer.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tColdwater also debuted in September in the UK, on ITV Studios\u2019 parent network, ITV. The six-episode series stars Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead, Love Actually) in his long-awaited return to British television and Ewen Bremner (Our Flag Means Death, Trainspotting).\u00a0The Sister-produced show is billed as a \u201ctwisted thriller about a normal man, in a normal marriage, who finds himself in a far from normal situation when he falls under the influence of someone incredibly dangerous.\u201d Lincoln plays a middle-aged stay-at-home-dad, whose anxieties bring him in contact with a new neighbor who harbors horrifying secrets.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Ireland (The Lovers, Ulster American) is the writer and creator and executive produced by Ireland, Chris Fry (Black Doves, Kaos), Alice Tyler (The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies), Lydia Hampson (The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies, Fleabag) and Jane Featherstone (Black Doves, Chernobyl).\u00a0Also starring are Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Obsession) and The Guest star Myles. Lee Haven Jones (Passenger, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story) and Andrew Cumming (Out Of Darkness, Payback) are the directors.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAndrew Lincoln in \u2018Coldwater\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tBritish fare back on menu<\/p>\n

\n\tAmerican networks have, for the large part, stepped away from international scripted co-productions, even with their sensibility-sharing British counterparts. On top of that, drama and comedy distribution has been challenged, with the Pact census recently showing international TV revenues at UK companies fell by \u00a357M ($76.8M) to \u00a31.35B in 2024, mainly down to a \u201cdecrease in international sales of finished programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBritish content-focused streamer BritBox has remained a reliable buyer, but few others have followed suit. That makes Showtime\u2019s recent acquisitions all the more notable.<\/p>\n

\n\tKatie Buchanan, EVP Americas, Global Partnerships at ITV Studios, today told Deadline she was seeing a shift from the U.S. market, with deals in the works at the likes of AMC, Hulu, Peacock and PBS.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve also been seeing multiple offers come in on series, which is exciting and highlights the quality of the content we distribute,\u201d she added. \u201cIt makes our jobs \u2018easier\u2019 when we have compelling shows and incredible talent that drive interest from every key platform in the U.S. All it takes is for one to ignite and everyone\u2019s interest is peaked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tITV Studios \u2013 seller of Mr. Bates vs The Post Office, Ludwig, Vigil, Code of Silence and unscripted hit Love Island among others \u2013 has focused on tight relationships with buyers to stay reactive to a market full of \u201cchanges and adjustments,\u201d said Buchanan.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEvery platform looks at data differently, they have varied investment levels, some rights are more important than others, and timing is key,\u201d she added. \u201cSeries with broad appeal, propulsive storytelling, and strong cast continue to stand out for us. We know buyers have to be selective and deals take time, but we make sure we get in front of platforms with projects as early as possible so we\u2019re top of mind for them as they strategize their content rollouts and budget allocations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShowtime\u2019s deals come on the same day ITV Studios unveiled its MIPCOM line-up, with unscripted romats Nobody\u2019s Fool and Celebrity Sabotage accompanying the likes of Matt Baker\u2019s food-meets-crime drama A Taste For Murder, Shaun Evans-starring spy thriller Betrayal, Suranne Jones- and Jodie Whittaker-led art heist series Frauds and upcoming BBC drama Two Weeks in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Showtime is in the market for British drama again, acquiring a pair of series from ITV Studios.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[13469,78425,96,11522,78426,29746,78427,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-175733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc-studios","tag-coldwater","tag-entertainment","tag-itv-studios","tag-paramount-with-showtime","tag-showtime","tag-the-guest","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}