31/07/2026 - Wero Rodowicz's six-part show follows Olympic beach-volleyball players Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré as the former rivals combine family ties and sporting ambition

Sky Switzerland will launch Beach Sisters, a six-part documentary series on Swiss beach-volleyball players Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré. Created and directed by Wero Rodowicz, the Sky Original will debut on Sky Show on 3 September. Co-produced with Swiss public broadcaster SRF, which is planning a free-TV premiere in summer 2027, it is being produced by Chur-based independent outfit schau., with Anne Sommer producing and Manuel Sieber serving as executive producer.

Beyond results, Beach Sisters follows the pair's attempt to turn a lifelong family relationship into a professional partnership. Having competed in separate pairings – and against one another during qualification for the Paris Olympics – they joined forces in late 2024, eyeing Los Angeles 2028.

The decision united athletes at different stages of their careers. Anouk, 34, won bronze at Tokyo and the 2020 European title with Joana Mäder, but lost the race for Paris 2024 to her sister's pairing. This may be her final Olympic cycle. Zoé, 28, finished fifth in Paris with Esmée Böbner and took bronze at the 2024 European Championships before teaming up with Anouk.

Filmed across a season, the series follows tournaments, training, travel, illness and recovery, as well as the scrutiny surrounding elite athletes and their 20-person team. It moves from Swiss training centres to competitions abroad and Guadeloupe, where the sisters reconnect with their Caribbean roots, with the 2025 World Championships in Adelaide providing a principal climax.

Their sporting journey is intertwined with their contrasting personalities. Introverted Zoé's story encompasses mental health, privacy and the body-image pressures faced by women in a sport where appearance remains exposed. The more outward-facing Anouk balances competition with sponsorship duties, questions about family life after sport and her work building athlete-management company AVD Management with manager Nicola Kusy.

The economics of an Olympic campaign provide another strand. A team of coaches, physiotherapists, mental-performance specialists and managers must partly be financed through commercial partnerships, taking the series into the overlapping area between sport, influencing and brand representation. Campaigns for sponsors including Nike, Red Bull and Toyota help sustain competition while consuming time and energy otherwise devoted to training.

Previously, Rodowicz was creative producer of the Canneseries winner The Zweiflers and is developing a series with UFA Fiction while directing a documentary on Annie Leibovitz's work in India.

For Fabian Stein, head of Content at Sky Switzerland, the blend is central to the project's appeal: “With Beach Sisters, we're telling a story that goes far beyond elite sport. The series offers a deeply personal look into the lives of Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré and shows what it truly means to pursue a shared dream as sisters. Producing authentic Swiss stories together with strong partners such as SRF is an important part of our content strategy.”

Although the initial commission comprises six episodes, Rodowicz's concept could continue through Olympic qualification, the growth of Anouk's agency and changes in the sisters' private lives.

“What drew me to Beach Sisters wasn't the sport itself, but the opportunity to observe two sisters searching for balance – between individual professional ambition and private life, ambition and healing, family roots and the future they are trying to build together,” Rodowicz says. “I felt deeply honoured to be welcomed into their family and entrusted with telling a story that moves between their Swiss and Guadeloupian roots, celebrating the richness of a heritage that spans cultures and generations.”

“Beach Sisters is exactly the kind of story we want to tell at schau. – rooted in a very specific place and a very specific family, yet universal in what it says about ambition, sisterhood and what we're willing to risk to bring our dreams to life,” adds Sommer.

International distribution and rights outside Switzerland are available through Sky.