Doctor Who Series 1 - Most Bought Drama

Doctor Who Series 1 has been named as the most frequently bought drama in the entire 40 year history of BBC Worldwide's Showcase event.

BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm of the BBC, which sells the best British TV shows from the BBC and UK independent producers around the world. Since 1976 it - and its predecessor, BBC Enterprises - has hosted international TV buyers at its own annual sales event, BBC Showcase. The first Showcase took place in a meeting room at The Old Ship Hotel in Brighton on the South Coast, and was attended by 25 buyers. Since then showcase has grown to the world’s biggest single distributor trade fair, regularly attracting more than 700 international buyers.

To celebrate 40 years of Showcase, BBC Worldwide has released the new data based on the number of times a title has been bought rather than the number of territories it was bought by, which shows how series continue to interest broadcasters time and again.

The most purchased drama series has been named as Doctor Who Series 1. Starring Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor and first broadcast in 2005, the series has attracted 629 buyers from countries including Bahrain, Hong Kong, France and Chile.

Doctor Who was one of the titles screened to buyers at the very first Showcase in 1976.

Paul Dempsey, President of Global Markets, said
The most bought comedy programme is the first series of the classic sitcom Keeping Up Appearances which has been bought 992 times over the forty year period. The most bought natural history title is The Life of Mammals with 958 sales and the most bought factual entertainment series is Top Gear Series 9, broadcast in 2006, which has clocked up 282 sales.