MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television has acquired a majority stake in Left Bank Pictures for $63.6 million, a move that signals the company‘s significant move into scripted production in the UK.

Left Bank Pictures, the banner behind Wallander - a crime series based on the popular novels by Scandinavian author Henning Mankel, starring Kenneth Branagh - now intends to focus on its international ambitions post the acquisition.

It joins other UK production houses within SPT such as Victory Television, Gogglebox Entertainment and Silver River.

Left Bank CEO Andy Harries and MD Marigo Kehoe will continue to run the company from London and will report to Andrea Wong, SPT?s president of international production.