Global independent content distributor GoQuest Media announced that it has concluded a deal with Australian national pubcaster SBS.

The deal sees SBS Australia acquire the exclusive AVOD rights for the award-winning and gripping crime thriller Rats (6 x 55') - a bold, hard-hitting drama about the Czech drug trade produced by Heaven’s Gate.

Based on true stories and made in collaboration with the National Anti-Drug Centre of the Czech Republic (DEA), Rats was created and written by talented young Czech screenwriter Miro Šifra (Rédl) and directed by multi award-winning Viktor Tauš (Vodnik, Clownwise, Dom) of Heaven’s Gate and Matěj Chlupáček (Terapie) of Barletta Productions in association with Czech TV and MD4. Rats aired in Spring 2020, in primetime on CT1 to unprecedented critical acclaim and multi-generational ratings success.

SBS On Demand Channel Manager, Haidee Ireland, said: “Rats is a thrilling and stylish series, and we are excited to have it join our collection of world class dramas from all over the world, handpicked and curated for local audiences on SBS On Demand”.

Commenting on the deal, Jimmy George, Vice President of Sales & Acquisitions at GoQuest Media, added: “We are delighted to have SBS introducing Rats to Australian audiences. The series has a one-of-a-kind approach to the traditional worldview of drugs both in terms of its protagonist's story as well as the physical world it is set in. This is a new and extremely interesting universe that viewers will be introduced to, and we can promise they won't be disappointed.”