Flemish Surrealist Crime Drama Premieres in UK April 29
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- "This is Not a Murder Mystery" is a six-part, 54-minute crime drama set among 1930s Surrealist artists including Dali and Magritte, directed by Hans Herbots ("The Serpent") and produced by Belgium's Panenka for Flemish public broadcaster VRT, which calls it the biggest series it has ever commissioned.
- Panenka and VRT assembled co-production financing from roughly 10 European broadcasters via the New8 alliance (VRT, DR, NRK, NPO, RUV, SVT, YLE, ZDF), plus RTL Belgium, Proximus, Irish producer Deadpan Pictures, and French sales outfit Studiocanal, with backing from Creative Europe MEDIA, Eurimages, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Screen Flanders, Screen Ireland, and Screen Brussels.
- Studiocanal is distributing the series internationally and has confirmed sales in nearly 20 territories, with additional deals being finalized according to the company.
- The series premieres in the UK on Wednesday, April 29 on U&Drama, with all six episodes available as a box set on U from launch, following its French premiere at Canneseries on April 26; New8 partners including Spain, Portugal, and South Korea have already begun releasing the show.
- VRT reports strong domestic reception on primetime and VRT MAX, citing good completion rates and high talk value, and partnered with the Antwerp Fine Arts Museum's René Magritte exhibition to extend the art-meets-drama reach.
- VRT and Panenka also produced a companion documentary, "This is Not a Fiction," comprising six short episodes exploring the real Surrealist artists, the archives, and the making of the drama.
Why it matters: A publicly funded Flemish broadcaster co-producing an English-language, art-history-flavored crime drama with roughly 10 European partners and Studiocanal is an unusually bold public-service play — VRT's Elly Vervloet framed it as "dreaming big" and confirmed it is VRT's largest series ever. The VRT–Antwerp Fine Arts Museum tie-up and companion documentary turn a single drama into a multi-format cultural-heritage package spanning fiction, education, and exhibitions.
Ask SkimNews
