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Rai, RTL drive demand for UK drama

Rai in Italy and RTL in Germany are among the international broadcasters that have picked up more than 3,000 hours of UK drama in the past three months, according to BBC Worldwide (BBCWW).

Sherlock was among BBCWW’s best sellers in recent months

The commercial arm of the BBC has flagged Sherlock, Doctor Foster and Call the Midwife as its best-sellers ahead of its Showcase sales event in Liverpool this week.

More than 200 hours have been sold to European networks, with Germany’s RTL Pay licensing SS-GB and Rillington Place, and ZDF the fifth and sixth runs of Death in Paradise.

Italy’s Rai Cinema acquired the first run of Doctor Foster, while in Central and Eastern Europe more than 600 hours were sold, with War & Peace being picked up by Russian SVoD service Ivi, Lithuania’s LRT adding Sherlock and ETV in Estonia taking the first five seasons of Father Brown.

SVT in Sweden nabbed the sixth season of Call the Midwife and Israel’s Yes picked up the first two runs of Unforgotten. In Latin America, almost 400 hours of drama were acquired, including SVoD service Filmin Latino taking Ripper Street’s second season.

Almost 1,000 hours, including New Tricks, Citizen Khan and The Paradise, were sold in Asia to broadcasters including KBS in Korea, AXN Mystery in Japan, Youku in Greater China and FX in India.

BBCWW said the sales, unveiled at Showcase, proved the “insatiable appetite for great British drama.”

BBCWW joined with UK commercial broadcaster ITV and US cablenet AMC late last year to launch an ad-free SVoD service in the US that will focus on British programming.

More than 700 buyers will be in Liverpool to watch over 3,000 hours of programming during the four-day event. They also get to see genre premieres and hear from the producers and creatives of a wide range of new shows.

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