What is BBC Worldwide Showcase?

BBC Worldwide Showcase is a unique annual sales festival hosted by BBC Worldwide.

Our flagship four-day festival attracts more than 600 of the world's top TV and digital executives to Britain, and is the nation's biggest television export market.

Beloved by buyers for its special atmosphere, each year BBC Worldwide Showcase unveils a spectacular array of new shows - accompanied by our catalogue of over 50,000 hours of first-class content.

Attendees relish the chance to screen to their hearts' delight (most clocking up 10 hours per day!) and gain fascinating insights from the programme-makers themselves, not to mention rubbing shoulders with the stars at numerous premieres and red-carpet events.

Many famous names have graced BBC Worldwide Showcase over the years, including Sir David Attenborough, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Michael Palin, Imelda Staunton, Dame Eileen Atkins, Bill Nighy, Timothy Spall, Buzz Aldrin, Russell T Davies, Louis Theroux, Bruce Parry, Judy Parfitt, Rupert Penry-Jones, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Michael Aspel, Philip Glenister, Richard Armitage, Keeley Hawes and many more...

There are also regional spin-off events in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans and Beijing.

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The History of BBC Worldwide Showcase

The first BBC Worldwide Showcase took place back in 1976 in The Old Ship Hotel in Brighton and was attended by 25 broadcasters from around the world. Some of the first key titles that were available to international broadcasters included Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, Andre Previn's Music Night, children's series Ballet Shoes and the original Doctor Who series.

In the early years the event moved around to cities including Bristol, Jersey and Stratford-upon-Avon, but it settled back in Brighton in 1987, where it remained until last year's big move to Liverpool.


BBC Worldwide has sold shows to some interesting places over the years…

  • Ukraine are making their own version of Yes, Minister
  • Allo! Allo!, set in an occupied French town in WWII, was sold to Germany
  • The Vicar of Dibley was bought by a broadcaster in Kazakhstan
  • Spooks, with storylines of Russian secret agents, was sold to Russia
  • Fashion advice has been sold to Italy, after the Italians licensed the format forWhat Not To Wear


And been extremely successful in others…

* BBC Worldwide's local production of Dancing with the Stars in the US kicked off season 12 with 22.8 million viewers for ABC.

* The first episode of Doctor Who Series 6 was the highest rated programme ever on BBC America, and the first on the channel to average over 1 million Adults 25-54 for the entire hour.

* Sherlock has sold to an impressive 80 territories and recently premiered in Germany with an audience of 4.5 million viewers - exceeding the slot amongst Adults 14-49 by 120%!

* The UK version of The Office has been sold to more than 170 territories from Latin America to Asia and Australia and has had local versions made in Israel, Russia, France, Canada, Chile and the US.

* Dancing with the Stars has been licensed to over 35 countries and was named the most successful reality TV format by the Guinness Book of World Records 2010.

* Top Gear has been sold to over 170 countries. In 2010, 47 million viewers watched Top Gear across the UK (that's 83% of the population).

* Series 14 of the UK's Top Gear was the highest rated programme in Australia when it launched in February 2010 on Nine Network.

* Simulcast across all but one of the Discovery family of channels in 2010, Life reached an incredible 78.2 million viewers over an initial one-month period.

 

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