Starring Tom Hardy, the BBC drama "Taboo" will be broadcast in China this month after e-commerce giant Alibaba and its subsidiary Youku, an online video platform, struck deals with The Media Pioneers.
Produced by Scott Free London and Hardy Son and Baker, the eight-part British miniseries was broadcast on BBC One in the UK on January 7, 2017. It was then aired on FX in the US three days later. A second season was announced soon after in March 2017.
The TV drama became popular and got a 7.03/10 average rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience approval rating of 92 percent. The writing team of the play, including Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, and his father, Chips Hardy, Emily Ballou, and Ben Hervey, won the award for Best Long Form TV Drama at the Writers' Guild Awards by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB).
"It was a hugely successful series in the UK, which we are excited to bring to Chinese audiences and look forward to it having the same reception there," Maggie Liang, the managing director and executive producer at The Media Pioneers said, according to Variety's report.
The plot is set in 1814. It tells the story of a hero, James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), who was believed to be dead long ago, but came back to London to inherit his father's shipping empire. The story unveils the conspiracy and intrigue between several interested parties.
Alibaba and Youku also signed up to two other children's programs via The Media Pioneers – "The Moe Show" and "Pop Up." Both are supposed to be broadcast in China by the end of this year.
"Venom," starring Tom Hardy, hit theaters in China last week, making 700 million yuan (101.4 million US dollars) at the box office in just three days.
