Mumbai: Global independent content distributor GoQuest Media on Tuesday announced that it has concluded an exclusive deal with Australian national pubcaster SBS. The deal sees SBS acquiring the AVOD rights for the Czech crime thriller 'Rats'.

The fact-based drama was aired in 2020, during primetime on Ceska televize to unprecedented critical acclaim and multi-generational rating success. Made in collaboration with the National Anti-Drug Centre of the Czech Republic (DEA), Rats is created and written by Czech screenwriter Miro Šifra (Rédl) and directed by Viktor Tauš (Vodnik, Clownwise, Dom) of production company Heaven’s Gate and Matěj Chlupáček (Terapie) of Barletta Productions, in association with Czech TV and MD4. 

Boasting a stellar Czech cast including Cyril Dobrý, Lenka Krobotová, Václav Neužil, and new-comer Miloslav Pechácek, Rats has won the Czech Lions and Czech Film Critics’ Awards in 2021 for Best TV series and was nominated at the International Zurich Film Festival and Serial Killer (festival).

SBS On Demand, channel manager, Haidee Ireland said “Rats is a thrilling and stylish series, and we are excited to have it join our collection of world-class dramas from all over the world, handpicked and curated for local audiences on SBS On Demand."

Commenting on the deal, GoQuest Media, VP - sales & acquisitions, Jimmy George added, “We are delighted to have SBS introducing Rats to Australian audiences. The series has a one-of-a-kind approach to the traditional worldview of drugs both in terms of its protagonist's story as well as the physical world it is set in. This is a new and extremely interesting universe that viewers will be introduced to, and we can promise they won't be disappointed.”