As the company’s annual Showcase event gets underway in virtual form, BBC Studios’ creative director for formats, Sumi Connock, goes through her slate and talks trends she’s hoping to tap into.

BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the UK pubcaster, has added five new formats to its sales slate for this week’s virtual Showcase.

Forthcoming ITV gameshow The 1% Club, presented by Lee Mack (Not Going Out), was originally delayed by pandemic production restrictions but is set to launch on the UK commercial broadcaster this spring. Produced by Magnum Media, the comedic show hunts for people smart enough to be in the top 1% of the population with questions and tasks that test how their brains work. The format has already been licensed in France and Israel.

Meanwhile, Norwegian format Megahit, from Montreux Film and TV, is a songwriting-focused show that gives six celebrities from outside the world of music the chance to write and release a pop song with the best in the music business. Songs from the first season of the TV Norge version have regularly featured in Spotify’s top 10 for the region.

Adrenaline-fuelled challenge show Gassed Up, which was part of the launch slate for BBC Three’s linear return, is also available, as is supersized woodworking format Loggerheads from BBC Scotland.

Finally, Surprize Fund, created and produced by the UK’s Youngest Media for John de Mol’s SBS6 network in the Netherlands sees a contestant brought into a television studio under false pretences, only to find the show and the challenges are all about them.

Here, Sumi Connock, BBC Studios’ creative director for formats, talks Clive Whittingham through the company’s slate and discusses trends in the formats business.

Gassed Up was part of the launch slate for the linear return of BBC Three

What trends are you seeing and trying to tap into with this slate?
Crafting became a big thing for people stuck in their homes during lockdown. We already have Bake Off, which does amazingly well, and Loggerheads ticks that box too. In the extended period of confinement, there was an increase in format ideas that are both outward- and inward-looking, some of them set outdoors and about enjoying nature and the environment, and then crafting definitely [became popular].

I also think wellness, self-help, being a better version of ourselves [is a growing trend] – we’ve seen that with BBC shows Couples Therapy and Sort Your Life Out. We’ve got a number of exciting projects in the pipeline in the wellness area.

We’ve seen a resurgence of gameshows and quizshows during the pandemic, paving the way for innovative new formats. We’re lucky to have MoneyBags from YoungestMedia, which Channel 4 just recommissioned for a second season, the first show from the Channel 4 Global Format Fund.

The World of the Married, the Korean adaptation of Doctor Foster

The Pact export report at the end of last year showed UK format exports down 29% year-on-year. Is that due to newer players like South Korea taking a bigger slice of the market?
In terms of new players coming into the market, I’m a big believer in creative competition being good. A successful format is good for everybody, no matter where it comes from. Seeing a new format fly is good for business. I’m always very excited by new players coming into the mix – it makes everybody else up their game.

We’ve seen a huge growth in interest in scripted formats over the past few years. There’s the benefit of reduced development time, proven success, the world-class BBC filter. We’ve had particular success in Asia. The local version of Doctor Foster in South Korea is the country’s highest-rated cable drama of all time, and an Indian version of Luther is launching in March on Disney Hotstar, starring Ajay Devgn.

We’re having success in Turkey and South Korea, which were previously known for exporting rather than importing drama. On the scripted side, that has been a big development for us.

BBCS sold Walk on the Wild Side, narrated by Helen Mirren, to ABC

So do you think that 29% is just a pandemic-related dip?
It’s not permanent. We did see a little bit of a slowdown in 2021, but we weren’t down as much as the rest of the market – we kept 24 Dancing With the Stars territories on air.

We worked quickly to share knowledge as soon as it came in. Ireland, Australia and Germany’s [versions of Dancing With the Stars] were all on air when the pandemic hit. We shared that production knowledge and best practice quickly and managed to keep them on air, and they performed well.

The audiences wanted familiar big brands and, because we moved quickly, we only lost one territory out of all of them, France, and that came back last season better than ever.

We looked through the catalogue at what could we turn around and make work during the pandemic. We got Weakest Link on air in Australia and the US. We had an archive clip show format, Walk on the Wild Side, and the guys in the US office got Dame Helen Mirren to do the voiceover and managed to sell 20 episodes to ABC.

We launched two brand new shows on major US networks at the height of the pandemic. We weren’t hit as badly [as others] and our figures show and we are bouncing back above where we were when the pandemic hit.

Norwegian format Megahit

With the BBC facing a cut to its content budget because of the licence fee freeze, and Channel 4 potentially going into private hands, how will that effect the UK as a research and development base for innovative and risky formats?
We don’t know what the situation is with the Channel 4 privatisation. Speaking in general terms, anything that reduces innovation and creative risk-taking is bound to have a detrimental effect on UK creative industry.

In terms of the BBC and the licence fee agreement, it’s obviously disappointing but what it does give is certainty, and both [director general] Tim Davie and [chief content officer] Charlotte Moore say the focus will be on high-impact content. When it comes to formats, that’s all we want because it’s what sells.

I’m optimistic about the future and we have some really exciting projects coming down the pipeline. There are always additional opportunities in formats. Two of our recent formats came from Norway and the Netherlands – Megahit and Surprize Fund respectively. There are opportunities everywhere, and we work really closely with i- house production and our indie partners to seek out those opportunities.

One example we had was working with Mighty Productions, which had a paper format called Ex-Rated, where you get all your ex-partners to do a sex survey and then you find out what they said about you. The US office developed it and sold it to Peacock; we held on to the format rights and are talking to international broadcasters about it. We just have to keep seeking those opportunities.