Liverpool-founded Hollyoaks producer Lime Pictures is moving into vertical drama for the first time as established TV producers increasingly experiment with shows designed specifically for smartphone audiences.
The production company has teamed up with RoseBerry Media’s new vertical-first streaming service epis on Revenge Is a Dish, a 57-episode romantic thriller now available globally.
It marks Lime Pictures‘ first original vertical drama production and sees the company applying decades of experience making fast-paced continuing drama for younger audiences to a format built around mobile viewing.
The move comes as Lime has been expanding its digital capabilities beyond conventional television. Earlier this year, the Liverpool producer relaunched its digital and social operation as Digital16, building on work that has extended programmes including Hollyoaks beyond the television screen.
It also follows a period of significant change in how Hollyoaks itself reaches viewers. Prolific North reported last year that viewing of the soap surged following a major schedule shake-up, with views per episode on streaming rising 71% year-on-year.
Lime says vertical production shares many of the demands of conventional soap, including high-volume filming, limited rehearsal time, big hooks and rapidly developing storylines.
Directed by Lime Pictures Co-Head of Scripted, Kids & Family Angelo Abela, Revenge Is a Dish stars Kharla Corley, Luke Delaney, former Hollyoaks star Tamara Wall and Jessica Paul, alongside Ruby Snape and Aldo Peirano.
The revenge romance centres on the Rochat restaurant dynasty, with Corley playing Paige, a new busgirl who infiltrates the family’s restaurant seeking revenge, while Delaney plays head chef and heir apparent Deveraux.
Abela said: “We have enjoyed the fascinating learnings from producing both films in this genre and are excited to see the audience response. Verticals cross skillset with soap as they require pacey storytelling, huge hooks and from the actors, the ability to shoot a high volume of high-drama scenes, with limited rehearsal time.”
Continuing that “it was a natural progression for Lime to move into this genre, based on our history in continuing drama and ability to offer high production values and provide duty of care to actors and with L16 Studios for post-production.”
The reference to L16 Studios also ties the production into Lime’s wider investment in Liverpool. The company opened the purpose-built L16 production facility at its Childwall campus last year, offering studio and post-production facilities for scripted and unscripted projects.
The creative team on Revenge Is a Dish also includes producers Andonis Anthony and Julia Carstairs, the latter of whom worked on Lime’s digital output around Hollyoaks, including Hollyoaks Unwrapped.
The series arrives as vertical drama – scripted programmes made specifically to be watched in portrait orientation on smartphones – develops into a distinct production and distribution format rather than simply short-form promotional content for traditional television.
It’s a direction other major Northern continuing dramas are also exploring. Earlier this year, ITV and ITV Studios Creative Director of Continuing Drama Iain MacLeod told Prolific North that the teams behind Coronation Street and Emmerdale were exploring micro dramas and vertical video as they looked for new ways to reach younger audiences.
RoseBerry launched epis globally this summer with a focus on premium mobile-first programming from established television producers and creative talent. The platform says it already carries more than 100 titles and plans more than 25 original vertical productions during 2026.
And Lime’s move into the format is not stopping with Revenge Is a Dish. The company is also producing another upcoming epis Original, Make Me a Match.
Guy Hameiri, Co-Founder and CEO of RoseBerry Media, said: “RoseBerry is setting a new bar for vertical TV storytelling and behaviour. Revenge Is a Dish is exactly the kind of premium, addictive story for a new trend of vertical viewing: full of big characters, high stakes and a story that keeps pulling you into the story.
“We are proud to partner with Lime Pictures for this first Premium Vertical TV drama, building on their decades of experience creating compelling television, and bringing that storytelling expertise into a mobile-first format makes them an ideal creative partner as we continue building out our slate of Originals.”
Other established production companies and formats are also appearing on epis. Fremantle-backed Silvio Productions is behind true-crime titles Two Marys and The Swindler and the Billionaire Murder, while Sexy Beasts, the BBC Three dating format created and produced by Lion Television, is also part of its slate.
For Lime, the experiment provides a potentially significant new outlet for the skills developed through years of high-volume continuing drama – taking the pace, hooks and production techniques of soap and rebuilding them for audiences watching vertically on their phones.
