PASADENA, CA – February 9, 2019 – AMC Networks announced today from the Television Critics’ Association (TCA) Press Tour that the hit series A Discovery of Witches, starring Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer, will make its network television debut on AMC and BBC AMERICA following a hugely successful premiere on the AMC Networks’ streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder. The series’ first season, which has been heralded as “elegant and satisfying” (Los Angeles Times), “the next show to cast its spell over viewers” (Collider), “the hot show that’s like Twilight meets Outlander” (Thrillist) and “elevates itself from its genre predecessors” (Uproxx) will begin an eight-week run on both networks starting Sunday, April 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, following BBC AMERICA and AMC’s previously announced simulcast of Killing Eve at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
The debut of A Discovery of Witches smashed Sundance Now records for total video plays, with 30x increase in the streams of any previous premiere during its first week – a record number of minutes streamed – and accounted for more than half of all streaming activity on the platform. In anticipation of the series’ premiere, total subscribers to Sundance Now alone increased by nearly 30% since the start of January. In addition, the week ending January 20 saw the largest number of new subscriptions, almost more than double the number added in any previous week. The series was also a monster hit in its Shudder debut, accounting for more minutes streamed than any on-demand film or series premiere in the service’s history.
“Thanks to the critical acclaim and overwhelmingly positive audience response to A Discovery of Witches, the series has found a new legion of fans. We are thrilled to bring it to a wider audience and pair it with Killing Eve on both AMC and BBC AMERICA,” said Sarah Barnett, President of AMC Entertainment Networks. “This is a great example of our cross-network strategy; to expose our series to new audiences across our ecosystem of networks and streaming services.”
Produced by Bad Wolf and adapted from Deborah Harkness’s critically-acclaimed and bestselling book of the same name, which returns tomorrow to the New York Times Book Reviews’ Combined Print & E-Book Best Seller list for the first time since August 2014, A Discovery of Witches is a modern-day love story, set in a world where witches, vampires and daemons secretly live and work alongside humans, hidden in plain sight. The Sky original production stars Emmy®-nominated Matthew Goode (The Crown) and Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge) along with Alex Kingston (Doctor Who), Valarie Pettiford (Being Mary Jane) and Owen Teale (Game of Thrones).
Filmed in the UK at Wolf Studios Wales and on location in Oxford and Venice, A Discovery of Witches was adapted for screen by writer Kate Brooke (Mr. Selfridge), who also serves as executive producer. Co-founders of Bad Wolf, Jane Tranter (The Night Of, Succession) and Julie Gardner (Doctor Who, Da Vinci’s Demons) and Lachlan MacKinnon (The White Princess, Burton & Taylor) are executive producers along with author Deborah Harkness. Juan Carlos Medina (Painless), Alice Troughton (Doctor Who) and Sarah Walker (Death in Paradise) direct.
Second and third seasons of A Discovery of Witches have been announced for Sky, Sundance Now and Shudder. Season two is expected to begin production later this year.
For press materials and photography for A Discovery of Witches and other series, please visit: http://press.amcnetworks.com
About AMC
AMC is home to some of the most popular and acclaimed programs on television. AMC was the first basic cable network to ever win the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Drama Series with Mad Men in 2008, which then went on to win the coveted award four years in a row, before Breaking Bad won it in 2013 and 2014. The network’s series The Walking Dead is the highest-rated series in cable history. AMC’s other current original drama series include Better Call Saul, Fear the Walking Dead, The Terror, Into the Badlands, Humans, Preacher, The Son, McMafia, Lodge 49, The Little Drummer Girl and NOS4A2. AMC also explores authentic worlds and discussion with original shows like Talking Dead, Talking with Chris Hardwick, AMC Visionaries and Ride with Norman Reedus. AMC is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc. and its sister networks include IFC, SundanceTV, BBC America and WE tv. AMC is available across all platforms, including on-air, online, on demand and mobile.
About BBC AMERICA
BBC AMERICA is a hub of innovative, culturally contagious programming including the critically-acclaimed series Killing Eve starring Emmy® and Golden Globe®-nominee Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer and from Emmy®-nominee Phoebe Waller-Bridge; top-rated phenomenon Doctor Who starring Jodie Whittaker; Emmy® and IDA-winning Planet Earth II and the producers’ next epic story of our planet, Dynasties; the Emmy®-winning Blue Planet II; acclaimed drama Luther starring Golden Globe®-winner Idris Elba; ground-breaking unscripted series Top Gear; buzzy and hilarious The Graham Norton Show; and the world’s biggest darts championships. A joint venture between BBC Studios (the commercial arm of the BBC) and AMC Networks, BBCA’s influential shows such as Orphan Black and Broadchurch, among many others, have attracted critical acclaim and earned Emmy® Awards, Peabody Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, TCA Awards and Golden Globes®. Created in 1998, the irrepressible network has garnered one of cable’s most curious, educated and affluent audiences, with many properties boasting super-fan levels of engagement. Get caught up, BBCA offers full episodes On Demand across all major digital platforms, BBC AMERICA app and bbcamerica.com. Find out more by visiting press.bbcamerica.com. BBCA on social: YouTube – Twitter – Instagram – Facebook – Tumblr – Snapchat: BBCAmerica_TV.