Walter Presents Scoops Up New Dramas for PBS Passport

Whoever it was at PBS that first noticed Walter Presents launch a stand-alone streaming service in 2018, a few months before the arrival of PBS Passport, and decided to ask curator and producer Walter Iuzzolino if he'd like to join forces and move his foreign language anthology series to the nascent PBS member-based service should be given an award. While on paper, the idea of filling PBS Passport with non-English language dramas might have seemed like a stretch, it has become a cult favorite here in the States with a devoted fan base. It also supplies multiple monthly shows to viewers, allowing the public broadcaster to have more new streaming offerings than Disney+ and Max on the regular.

The best part is there are always more shows to bring over, especially since German production studio ZDF realized it could make shows for German TV without worrying how well they do at home, as long as they appeal to UK and US viewers. In the last two years, the German outfit has provided multiple shows per year to Walter Presents on More4 and PBS Passport, and 2025 will be no different. Iuzzolino's outfit announced three shows heading to streaming for the 2024-2025 TV season, including two ZDF miniseries from 2023: the six-part The Shadow (Der Schatten) and the four-episode Suplex (Ikke et Ord). It also nabbed Season 3 of ZDFneo's Nordic Noir The Island (Sløborn), making this acquisition brought to you by the Letter S.

The Shadow, which scored the 2023 Audience Choice Award at the German Seriencamp festival, is a dark mystery with supernatural overtones. The series "follows a female journalist embarking on a new life in Vienna. Once there, she meets a beggar who tells her she is going to kill a man, setting a dark prophecy in motion." It will debut on both More4 and PBS Passport.