Sky Atlantic today proudly announces that Riviera, a sumptuous thriller set in the South of France, is coming to the channel in 2017.  

Building on Sky’s commitment to making more quality drama than ever before, this brand new ten part series is created by Oscar-winning writer and director Neil Jordan (The Borgias), co-written with Booker Prize-winning author John Banville (The Sea), and starring Julia Stiles (The Bourne Series). The series is based on an idea from former U2 manager Paul McGuinness and is being developed and produced by Archery Pictures and Primo Productions. 

Georgina (Julia Stiles) is newly married to billionaire Constantine Clios when he is killed in a yacht explosion. She is shocked to discover the fortune that maintained his immaculate, ever-so-tasteful lifestyle is tainted with dishonesty, double-dealing, crime, and ultimately murder. 

Helped by Constantine’s first wife, Georgina will undergo an education in lying, double-dealing, outright theft and shocking criminality. She has to learn fast to maintain the Clios mansion and save the family from its enemies and from itself.  Hiding her bloodstained fingers inside Chanel gloves, she soon reveals herself to be an A-plus student in the brutal art of survival. 

Commenting on the role Julia Stiles said: “What attracted me to Riviera is the setting, a romantic and glamorous world where not everything is as it seems, and the opportunity to explore a character who is also not as she appears. Georgina is the classic anti-hero, ultimately a good person, but compromised by the corruption around her."

Anne Mensah, Sky’s head of drama continues: “Neil Jordan has created the most audacious show in the most exquisite and luxurious of settings.  We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect actress for the role of Georgina than Julia Stiles.  This show is the perfect thriller for a Sky Atlantic audience – ambitious, compelling and clever.  Quite simply, you won’t have seen anything like it on television before.”

Archery Pictures added: “It is a privilege to be part of Sky Atlantic’s line-up of brilliant international drama and we’re delighted to be working with Neil, John and Paul on Riviera. The narrative landscape they have created is decadent and riveting and we’re excited to be taking the audience on Georgina’s journey into the darker recesses of this gilded world.” 

Executive Producers for Archery Pictures are Neil Jordan, Liza Marshall (Red Riding Trilogy, Taboo), Kris Thykier (Kickass, Woman in Gold) and former U2 manager Paul McGuinness. Riviera has been commissioned for Sky by head of drama Anne Mensah, commissioning editor Cameron Roach and director of Sky Atlantic Zai Bennett. Worldwide distribution is being handled by Sky Vision (Sky international division). 

RIVIERA will be shot on location in summer 2016 and will transmit exclusively on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland in late 2017.

ENDS: 

For further information please contact:

Claire Barson

PR Manager, Sky Content 

Claire.Barson@sky.uk 

+44 (0)7966 993986

Notes to Editors

About Sky

Sky is Europe's leading entertainment company, serving 21 million customers across five countries: UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. We offer the best and broadest range of content, deliver market-leading customer service and use innovative new technology to give customers a better TV experience, whenever and wherever they choose.

Sky has annual revenues of over £11 billion and is Europe's leading investor in television content with a combined programming budget of £4.9 billion. The group employs 30,000 people and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SKY).

For more information visit www.sky.com/corporate

About Paul McGuinness:

Paul McGuinness established Principle Management in 1982, and managed U2 from the start of their career.  U2 have won 22 Grammys and sold over 160 million albums worldwide.  Principle Management was one of the world’s leading artist management companies with offices in Dublin & NY, overseeing U2 and multiple Mercury Prize Winner - PJ Harvey.  The company was sold to Live Nation in 2013.

Mr McGuinness is also a partner in Ardmore Film Studios in Ireland.  He is a member of BAFTA and was a member of the Arts Council of Ireland for 12 years.  In 1998, he was one of the founders of TV3 in Ireland. Since 1995, McGuinness Whelan Ltd have been the publishers of RIVERDANCE THE MUSICAL.

Paul McGuinness has received numerous awards including Freedom of the City of Dublin with U2 (1999), Honorary Doctorate in Law from University College Dublin (2000), Pollstar Music Awards ‘Personal Manager of the Year’ (2003), Strat Award ‘Outstanding Contribution to British Music’ at Music Week Awards, Peter Grant Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music (2006), and the Billboard Industry Icon Award (2014). Alongside U2, he was awarded the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award in Chile in 2006. 

About Julia Stiles:  

Julia Stiles received Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award nominations for her work on Showtime's hit DEXTER opposite Michael C. Hall.  She will reprise her role as ‘Nicky Parsons’ in the next installment of the BOURNE franchise “JASON BOURNE” in theatres July 29th, 2016.   Additional film credits include the upcoming films BLACKWAY and MISCONDUCT, as well as THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, CLOSED CIRCUIT, IT’S A DISASTER, BETWEEN US, MONA LISA SMILE, THE OMEN, STATE & MAIN, THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS, O, SAVE THE LAST DANCE, and 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU.  Theater credits include the London and Broadway revival of David Mamet's OLEANNA, Shakespeare-in-the-Park's TWELFTH NIGHT, and FRAN’S BED at Playwrights Horizons. She recently did a guest starring arc on THE MINDY PROJECT as well as starred in BLUE on Hulu/Wigs Network, for which she also wrote and directed the series PALOMA. Julia is a graduate of Columbia University. Stiles is represented by ICM Partners, Untitled and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern.

About Archery Pictures: 

Archery Pictures was founded in October 2014 by Liza Marshall and Kris Thykier.

Marshall was formerly Head of Scott Free London, a company she established five years ago, where she produced film projects including BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP, starring Nicole Kidman; WELCOME TO THE PUNCH starring James McAvoy; GET SANTA starring Jim Broadbent and Rafe Spall as well as the ground-breaking film LIFE IN A DAY, directed by Kevin MacDonald and produced with You Tube. Marshall was also responsible for TV projects including BRITAIN IN A DAY and the high profile BBC drama TABOO, starring Tom Hardy. 

Previous to this Marshall was Head of Drama at Channel 4 for five years and commissioned and Executive Produced a raft of critically acclaimed and award winning projects including THE RED RIDING TRILOGY, THE DEVIL’S WHORE, BRITZ, DEATH OF A PRESIDENT, ANY HUMAN HEART, BOY A, MO and MISFITS.

Thykier previously headed PeaPie Films which developed and produced TRASH with Working Title, directed by Stephen Daldry and based on a screenplay by Richard Curtis; ONE Chance, directed by David Frankel and starring James Corden, Alexandra Roach and Julie Walters; Dan Mazer’s I GIVE IT A YEAR, starring Rose Byrne, Anna Faris, Rafe Spall and Simon Baker; and also the Danish language movie SUMMER OF ‘92, directed by Kasper Barfoed.

More recently Thykier has produced the epic romance ALI & NINO, which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, directed by Asif Kapadia and written by Christopher Hampton; the John Wells’ feature film, BURNT, set in the world of London restaurants and starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Uma Thurman and Emma Thompson; and WOMAN IN GOLD, directed by Simon Curtis and starring Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Bruhl and Katie Holmes.