It's time to celebrate the gloom and doom that permeates the SBS On Demand drama collection. Buried within the library of prestige TV shows lies a collection of programs that aren't afraid to explore the beauty that exists within the bleak, evil and macabre.
At the top of your must-see list is the latest jewel in the streaming library – Pagan Peak. This very dark German remake of the Scandi-noir classic The Bridge takes a twisted approach to the story by introducing murders based on pagan rituals.
Beyond that, you can journey deep into the underground catacombs that lie beneath Paris with the moody murder-mystery Nox, question the apocalyptic messaging of discovered corpses found during The Plague, and ponder the gruesome discovery of a headless horse on an unforgiving winter morning in a town high in the French Pyrenees.
This is gothic television from across the globe, as only SBS On Demand can deliver. It's devilishly atmospheric storytelling at its best.
Pagan Peak
When a body is found, gruesomely staged and propped up on a mountain border, two detectives are sent to investigate. For German detective Ellie, this is the first real challenge of her career; her Austrian counterpart Gedeon, though, seems to have lost any ambitions in his career. Very soon, they discover more crime scenes with symbolically posed victims, reminiscent of pagan rituals. It all seems to be part of a bigger, sinister plan.
Ellie finds herself under increasing pressure to understand the deranged killer's motives so she can stop him. The hunt leads them ever deeper into the dark valleys and archaic Alpine customs – and the paranoid world of the killer.
The Plague
This is a noir thriller set in 16th-century Seville, when the corpses of several murdered people are found, seen as an omen of the end of the world.
Mateo is a Holy Inquisition outlaw who returns to Seville five years after fleeing to honour a promise – to rescue Valerio Huertas, the bastard son of his friend Germán Larrea, who died while he was away. To avoid being spotted by the Holy Office, Mateo hides in the house of his former partner in crime, Luis de Zúñiga, a nouveau riche who tries to keep the plague secret, quarantined in the outskirts of the city, outside the walls, where the first cases were found.
Nox
When her daughter Julie disappears in Paris' underground tunnels, retired cop Catherine (Nathalie Baye, Spin) embarks on a race against time to find her. With the help of Julie's police partner, she investigates the mysteries of Julie's past and the horrors of the city's underbelly.
The Typist
For decades, Freya has been typing up the criminal interrogations of the Berlin police department. She lives a secluded life, haunted by the gruesome accounts of violent crime – and even more by the disappearance of her daughter Marie, 11 years earlier. A similar case brings all the old memories back and she resolves to finally get to the bottom of Marie's disappearance.
Cardinal
In this atmospheric thriller, demoted Detective John Cardinal is brought back into Homicide when the hunch he wouldn't let go is proven correct. Now, as he relentlessly tracks a serial killer, he must keep a watchful eye on his new partner.
I Know Who You Are
Prestigious lawyer Juan Elias wakes up after a car crash suffering from amnesia. He soon discovers that he's the main suspect in the disappearance of his niece, Ana Saura, a 25-year-old woman who was also a student of Elias' at the university. The case will pit two powerful families against one another, dredging up secrets from the past they thought long forgotten.
The Frozen Dead
A horrific discovery in a small town nestled high in the French Pyrenees begins to unravel a dark mystery that has been hidden for years. On an unforgiving winter morning, a group of workers discover the headless body of a horse, hanging suspended from the edge of a frozen cliff. Commandant Martin Servaz starts investigating and soon discovers a dark story of madness and revenge.
Taboo
Set in 1814, this dark and gritty period drama stars Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road) as James Keziah Delaney, a man who has been to the ends of the Earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father's shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father's legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking around every corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence.
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