Śleboda, SkyShowtime’s first locally commissioned original program in Poland, has shot to the top of the charts in just over two weeks, quickly becoming its best-performing series in the market to-date. Already watched by almost half of all subscribers following its launch on December 12 in Poland, audiences continue to demonstrate exceptionally strong loyalty, with a near 90% of viewers returning for subsequent episodes.

Following its overwhelmingly positive reception, SkyShowtime announced that the crime drama will be available across all markets including Northern Europe, Iberia and the rest of Central & Eastern Europe from February 20. SkyShowtime Chief Content Officer Kai Finke said: “We’ve been delighted by the extremely strong engagement with Śleboda shown by audiences across Poland since its December launch, with a near 90% of viewers continuing to watch after the first episode, demonstrating not only the popularity of dark and fast-paced crime thrillers, but also an obvious appetite for authentic local productions. This success underlines SkyShowtime’s ongoing commitment to producing compelling authentic local originals for our audiences and we’re excited to launch this series, with its A-list Polish cast and creative team, across all our markets from February.”

Featuring outstanding performances by Maria Dębska, Maciej Musiał and Piotr Pacek in the lead roles, the crime drama revolves around Anka (Dębska), a young anthropologist on a journey of self-discovery, who travels to the beautiful landscape of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra mountains only to stumble upon a dead body. She quickly becomes entangled in a murder mystery, crossing paths with Sebastian (Musiał), a shameless journalist on the hunt for a scoop, and Jędrek (Pacek), a local police officer with whom she shared a teenage romance.

An adaptation of the first instalment of the critically acclaimed series of crime novels by Małgorzata Fugiel-Kuźmińska and Michał Kuźmiński, the wider cast includes Joanna Balasz, Andrzej Chyra, Kuba Dyniewicz, Helena Englert, Jan Englert, Tomasz Karolak, Artur Krajewski, Mateusz Janicki, Mateusz Kmiecik, Magdalena Lamparska, Leszek Lichota, Anna Nehrebecka, Józef Pawłowski and Andrzej Zielinski.

Śleboda is directed by Michał Gazda and Bartosz Blaschke, with Tomasz Augustynek as Director of Cinematography and Magdalena Szwedkowicz as Producer. The series is written by Karolina Frankowska and Katarzyna Golenia. The series was filmed in the Republic of Poland with support provided through the Act on Financial Support for Audio-visual Production by the Polish Film Institute and funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.