Beta Film has struck a major deal on the Mafia series Cold Summer with Walter Presents for the US and Canada, ahead of its linear premiere in the UK on Channel 4. Adapted from the bestselling novel by former anti-Mafia prosecutor Gianrico Carofiglio, Cold Summer will launch on April 13 on UK’s Channel 4; the boxset will also be available on its streaming service. The series was also sold to SBS Australia earlier this year. 

Nominated for two Italian Film Awards (Nastri d’Argento) in the categories Best Crime Series and Best Leading Actor, the series broke records on its home turf on RAI Italy. It premiered with peak viewership hitting 4.6 million and a remarkable 23% market share, surpassing by far the channel’s median.  

Cold Summer (8x1h) is set in the early 90’s in Southern Italy and unravels an uneasy alliance between a small-time Mafia boss and the upright police sergeant, Pietro Fenoglio. He can practically smell the Mafia war about to explode in the seaside town of Bari, Apulia. Yet no one else can quite believe that the Mafia have followed cocaine from tough Sicily to sleepy Apulia, least of all the dismissive Bari police chief, who reprimands Pietro for his maverick approach to detective work. As Pietro begins a single-minded pursuit to root out the town’s nascent Mafia dons, his marriage to his long-suffering wife falls apart. But when the ruthless Mafia boss Nicola Grimaldi discovers his young son has been kidnapped and murdered, the suspect and Grimaldi’s former friend Vito seeks refuge with police. This collaboration with the quicksilver informant unwillingly leads straight-arrow Pietro into a murky underworld, finding that in this case, law enforcers may not differ much from the law breakers... 

The series stars some of Italy’s most esteemed actors, Alessio Boni (Caravaggio), Paolo Sassanelli and Giulia Vecchio (Trust). Directed by Alessandro Casale, Cold Summer is created by Gianrico Carofiglio, Doriana Leondeff, Antonio Leotti, and Oliviero Del Papa, and produced by Clemart for Rai Fiction in association with Beta Film. Beta Film also handles international sales.