Eight-year-old ITV drama leads Netflix pack

Crime drama The Loch has climbed above recently launched scripted originals to lead the Netflix top 10 shows in the UK, eight years after airing on ITV1.

Going by its international title Loch Ness – for which it was branded on Acorn TV – on Netflix, the first episode of the six-parter has been watched by 760,000 UK viewers in its first seven days, after landing on 26 July. To date, this figure has climbed to 1.2m.

In the opening week, it beat Working Title’s new drama Too Much which brought in 677,000 in its first seven days last month. Nabbing the number one spot in Netflix UK’s series top 10, the series managed to outperform US hit Untamed – dislodging it from the top. 

The second episode of the Siobhan Finneran-starring series was watched by 611,000 within the first seven days, the third by 567,000, according to Barb data from overnights.tv. The sixth and final episode has been watched by 450,000.

The drama follows a Highlands police officer, played by Breaking Bad star Laura Fraser, investigating a murder in a picturesque village. When it becomes apparent that she is dealing with a serial killer, a major investigation detective, played by Happy Valley star Finneran, joins her team.

Written by Fortitude scribe Stephen Brady, the series was produced by ITV Studios and commissioned in 2016 for ITV by then drama controller Victoria Fea and head of drama series Jane Hudson.

Loch Ness was a hit when it landed on the broadcaster, launching with an overnight audience of 5m (21.9%) at 9pm on a Sunday in June 2017, ahead of the 4.8m (21.5%) slot average. It concluded with 3.9m (18.5%), in line with the series average on overnights.

The consolidated series average was 6m (23%), with the opener reaching 7.1m (24%), according to Barb data from overnights.tv.

Value of VoD rights exploitation

The series has had several windows within the ITV family of channels and streamer BritBox (previously co-owned by ITV) since its launch, and is available on the broadcaster’s VoD service ITVX. However, it has been available as download to own on other streamers including Apple iTunes and Amazon Prime. 

The Netflix success of the ITVS-distributed series, which was an Acorn TV original internationally, underscores the value of secondary window VoD rights exploitation – which has become a central concern recently after indies asked broadcasters for clarity over their ability to sell windows to domestic streamers after their PSB licence period.

Indeed, ITV’s 2021 drama Finding Alice, produced by now-defunct Red Production Company and distributed by StudioCanal, was eighth in Netflix’s UK top 10.

ITVS’ executive vice-president of sales for EMEA Gisela Asimus Minnbergh said: “ITV Studios’ catalogue of well-produced, home-grown drama with strong storytelling and casting continues to attract large audiences on Netflix and Loch Ness is a great example of that.

“This is one title in a long line up of recent successes including Monumental’s Harlots, Hera Pictures’ Honour and Sister’s Cleaning Up.

“As a result, Netflix promotes them very well and the virtuous circle continues.”