The BBC’s monopoly on Danish quality television is over. Last week, the UK satellite channel Sky Arts saw off the challenge of BBC4 to acquire the rights to show the Danish TV drama series ‘Arvingerne’ (‘The Legacy’).

Long before the debut of the ten-part family drama on Danish TV, there was interest in the rights, and at the TV and entertainment market MIPCOM in France last October, it was sold to buyers in 12 different countries.

Nordic Noir, a sub-label of UK distributor Arrow Films, secured the UK rights, and the Guardian predicted a deal with the Beeb for “BBC4’s 9pm Saturday night slot – the home of Scandinavian dramas including ‘Wallander’, ‘The Killing’, ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Borgen’”.

But since then, the drama has gained a staggering 68 percent Sunday evening audience share on DR1 and won two prestigious French FIPA awards for best TV series and screenplay. And now it has been confirmed that Sky Arts has acquired the rights.

‘Arvingerne’ represents a new direction for DR, as it moves away from noir.

“We have to do something different from ‘The Killing’ or ‘Borgen’; we need to go down new paths,” Piv Bernth, the head of drama at DR, told The Independent.

‘Arvingerne’ is expected to screen in the UK in the autumn.