Following its rare acquisition of a hit BBC comedy, Apple TV has now bought the six-part crime mini-series "Dustfall" from Australia's ABC network.
Broadcasters at least used to all have acquisitions departments, and they are the ones who've bought US shows to worldwide audiences. US networks only more rarely acquired overseas shows, and Apple TV appeared to never quite do it, until now.
Apple TV has made deals before so that the BBC, for instance, made "Trying" for Apple first before getting to screen it later. Then in 2020 Apple took over production of the existing Israeli spy thriller, "Tehran," and commissioned two further seasons.
But the September 2026 acquisition of the BBC's "Small Prophets" comedy was the first time Apple TV had just outright bought an existing, completed, and transmitted show.
Pearce Quigley stars as a man driven to alchemy as he searches for his long-missing partner in "Small Prophets" - image credit: BBC
Now it's doing the same thing with the Australian drama "Dustfall." In this case, Apple TV has bought the completed series as it begins transmission in Australia. It is to premiere there on ABC on October 11, 2026, with all six episodes available on the ABC iview streaming service from that date.
Apple says in a statement that it will be premiering the show in 2027 worldwide, excluding Australia. There is also a reference to other broadcasters, such as the BBC and ZDF, meaning Apple might not stream it in the UK or Germany respectively.
"Dustfall" is written by Dianne Taylor and based on the novel "The Unbelieved" by Vikki Petraitis. It follows a detective investigating a sexual assault case where a key suspect is murdered, and "long-buried secrets" are uncovered.
The show is made by production companies Soapbox Pictures and Moonriver, in association with the BBC, ZDF, and Screen Australia.
How Apple buys series
Just as with "Small Prophets," though, Apple TV did not buy the show from any of these companies. Instead, Apple TV acquired it from an international distributor, in this case Federation International.
If it had been the same or an associated distributor to the BBC comedy, it might have been that Apple TV is working on a longer-term deal with that firm. Instead, the suggestion is that Apple TV is actively looking for more international shows to acquire.
That might be motivated in part by how all streamers face various local quota laws. These are regulations, chiefly in Europe, by which a certain proportion of a streamer's catalog must come from the region in some way.
It's not possible to be more precise than that because of the complexities of television production. "Dustfall" is clearly an Australian series, for instance, but it also has German and British investment.
There are similar global issues with movies, such as the case with "CODA." That's officially an Apple film and it means Apple won the Oscar for Best Picture with it in 2022, despite spending millions of dollars, it could not acquire worldwide rights to the film.
