Jennifer Lopez Police Thriller ‘Shades of Blue’ Picked Up by Sky in U.K.

15/03/2016 - LONDON — Pay TV network Sky has nabbed U.K. rights to police thriller Shades of Blue, starring Jennifer Lopez, and season four of musical drama series Nashville. The shows will play on the platform’s channel Sky Living. “Nashville” will appear for the first time on Sky Living, with previous seasons having aired in the U.K. on Channel 4 niche channels More 4 and E4. Seasons one to three will be available to Sky customers via Sky Box Sets and streaming service Now TV. The acquisitions add to Sky Living’s strong lineup of U.S. drama. The channel is already home to “Scandal,” “Elementary,” “The Blacklist,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Criminal Minds” and “Bones,” and most recently the U.K. premiere of “Blindspot.” “Blindspot” consolidated from 384,000 to 1.19 million, making it the best launch of a brand new U.S. drama on Sky Living ever. Also coming soon to Sky Living is the new show from Shonda Rhimes, “The Catch.” In “Shades of Blue,” Lopez plays Harlee Santos, a charismatic single mother and resourceful detective. Santos works at the heart of a close-knit crew of Brooklyn detectives, led by the enigmatic Lieutenant Matt Wozniak, played by Ray Liotta, who often leads the team to step outside the limitations of the law in order to protect their precinct and their own. Created by Callie Khouri, “Nashville” stars Connie Britton as country music superstar Rayna James, and Hayden Panettiere as younger star Juliette Barnes. Adam MacDonald, director of Sky 1 and Sky Living, said: “These two brilliant shows coming to Sky Living just strengthens our reputation for fantastic U.S. drama, so I couldn’t be happier to have ‘Shades of Blue’ and ‘Nashville’ coming to the channel. They have everything that a Sky Living drama should have and more: strong characters, engrossing storylines and the talk-ability our customers love.” “Shades of Blue” was executive produced by Jack Orman, creator/writer Adi Hasak, Barry Levinson (pilot), Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Benny Medina, Ryan Seacrest and Nina Wass. Levinson directed episodes one and two. It is a production of Universal Television, Nuyorican Prods., EGTV, Ryan Seacrest Prods. and Jack Orman Prods. It is distributed worldwide by NBCUniversal. “Nashville” is executive produced by Callie Khouri, Steve Buchanan and Dee Johnson. It is produced by ABC Studios in association with Lionsgate Television, with Lionsgate handling international distribution rights.

(VARIETY)