From historical conflicts to family ties: New8 showcases second slate of international drama series

Love will not be imprisoned

The VRT series Breendonk, created and produced by De Mensen, revolves around Elisabeth and Rik, two young lovers with contrasting views on how to survive the war. Elisabeth joins the resistance, while Rik prefers to flee together to secure their future. In 1942, long before the war's end is in sight, they are brutally separated after a failed resistance action. Elisabeth goes into hiding, while Rik and his father Leon end up in the feared SS prison Breendonk, where the often Flemish guards do everything to break the resistance.

© Charlie De Keersmaecker and Guido De Smet

Life in Breendonk is hell, and escape seems impossible. To survive, Rik and Leon make a pact with Flemish SS guard Vaes, who claims to regret his collaboration. Unbeknownst to them, Vaes plays a double role, secretly passing information to the SS. As the war ravages on, the lives of Elisabeth, Rik, and Vaes become dangerously intertwined. Who protects whom? Who will betray whom? Who will survive this hell and build a happy life? And will Rik and Elisabeth find each other again?

Breendonk is the second drama production by VRT in the New8 collaboration. Up first is the six-part series This is not a murder mystery, a visually stunning whodunit with a surreal twist. The series will be broadcast on VRT in 2025.

Diverse slate of European drama

The new series unveiled by New8 today encompass a diverse array of themes, including historical and social dramas, family ties, crime thrillers, and mystery series.

The presented titles are:

• Phoenix (ZDF, Germany). Produced by Les Films du Cygne, Storia Télévisions and Maze Pictures, written by Matthieu Bernard and Louis Aubert, directed by Franck Brett. ​

  ​Phoenix tells the story of young people from different European countries who have kidnapped the children of the CEOs of the ‘Four Wastes’ (four companies that pollute the world the most) in the run-up to an economic summit in the French Alps. Together with their victims, they are hiding in the mountains near the conference venue – with the aim to force the economic bosses to save the climate instead of continuing to pollute the world. ​

• The Machine (NPO/BNNVARA, The Netherlands). Produced by Hollands Licht, written by Daan Windhorst, Nasja Covers, Michiel van Jaarsveld, and directed by Michiel van Jaarsveld.

  ​The Machine is a story of power, profit, and purpose. When a long-time employee unexpectedly becomes CEO of an Amsterdam-based global travel empire, the company seems almost unrecognizable from the adventurous start-up she helped build with her friends two decades ago. Can she revive the company’s original values, or will she be consumed by its relentless drive for profit? ​

• Henki (NRK, Norway). Produced by Klynge & Scanbox, written by Jan Trygve Røyneland, Harald Rosenløw Eeg and Flemming Klem, and directed by Erika Calmeyer. The year is 1985. Henki Hauge Karlsen is a 28-year-old gay bartender who is fired after disclosing that he is infected with HIV. Angered and humiliated, he decides to take his case to court. But what he thought would be a fight for justice turns into three years where his life is laid bare for the Norwegian people to scrutinize and moralize. Henki eventually wins in Supreme Court but dies shortly after the verdict. ​ ​​ ​Henki is the story of a boy who never asked to become a celebrity but sacrificed himself in the fight for dignity.

• Cold Song (SVT, Sweden). Produced by Miso Film, written by Maren Louise Käehne and Julie Budtz Sørensen, and directed by Mikael Marcimain.

  ​Cold Song is a gripping and suspense-filled drama about the strength and fragility of family ties. Restaurant owner Siri and her husband, the writer Jon, lead a hectic life in Stockholm with their two daughters. Every summer, they seek peace in Siri's childhood home on the west coast. This summer, Siri plans an unwelcome 75th birthday party for her mother Jenny, and the nanny Mille is hired to help out. When Mille disappears during the party, the family is forced to confront hidden secrets and guilt. What happened to Mille, and who is responsible? ​

• Generations (DR, Denmark). Produced by DR Drama, created and directed by Anna Emma Haudal.

  The story of Generations begins with the discovery of a mummified infant’s body during a renovation in a Frederiksberg apartment. Martha, an 87-year-old resident, unexpectedly confesses to the crime, triggering a journey into family secrets long buried. The series subtly explores the lingering shame and guilt carried through three generations of women and their longing for redemption and transformation. Generations is a series that intertwines family drama with a compelling crime story. ​

• The Dark Ones (ZDF, Germany). Produced by Network Movie, Studio Zentral, created by Arne Nolting and Jan Martin Scharf, and directed by Lea Becker.

  ​The Dark Ones is about dangerous beings that invade people's lives on an island in the North Sea. But they are neither monsters nor demons. They are human – just like us. In fact, they are the worst possible versions of ourselves. Shady doppelgangers who have made the wrong decisions at crucial moments in their lives and would do anything to start all over again. Now they are here to swap places with us – and the only one who can stop them is Soma, a young woman who is searching for her origins... ​

• Death of a horse (RÚV, Iceland). Produced by Act 4 in coproduction with Windlight Pictures, written by Birkir Blær Ingólfsson, Jonas Margeir Ingolfsson and Judith Angebauer.

  ​​Death of a Horse has a classic suspenseful crime engine but with a twist – this time the murder victim is a horse. Blesi is found dead, after unexpectedly becoming the frontrunning horse in the National Championship, making his value a life-changing amount. The police refuses to investigate, as the killing of a horse doesn't constitute a murder. So the owner runs her own investigation. But the eccentric community of Icelandic horse-farmers doesn't want the scrutiny and soon lives are at stake - some of them human.

About New8

As part of New8, eight public broadcasters join forces to bring high-quality drama series, built on shared values, to a wide audience.

The first eight series of New8 have been already produced and partially broadcast. A selection of these is also honoured (inter)nationally, such as ZDF’s Push (German Television Award 2024) and Kabul (Series Mania 2025 - International Competition), as well as DR's Other People’s Money (Berlinale 2025 - Panorama section) and Generations (Series Mania 2025 - International Competition).

Breendonk is a production of De Mensen, part of STUDIO TF1, for VRT and Streamz in coproduction with Anagram. STUDIO TF1 – formerly Newen Studios – handles the distribution. The series is supported by the Tax Shelter measure of the Belgian Federal Government, VAF, Screen Flanders, Creative Europe Development Slate, and the Norwegian Film Institute. In collaboration with Fort Breendonk (War Heritage Institute), Antwerp Remembers, and RTBF.

This is not a murder mystery is a production by Panenka for VRT, in co-production with RTL, Proximus, New8 and Deadpan Pictures, with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA, Pilot Programme for Series Co-Productions, the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Screen Flanders, Screen Brussels, the Brussels Capital Region, the Belgian Tax Shelter and Screen Ireland. STUDIOCANAL manages the international distribution rights.