The Office Gets Russian Treatment

LONDON, July 24: BBC
Worldwide’s scripted format The Office continues to grow its global footprint, with Russia as the latest
country to make a local version of the hit comedy.

Channel One in Russia has
licensed the rights to create 24 half-hour episodes with its affiliated
production company Red Square. With editorial supervision from BBC Worldwide’s
executive producer, Duncan Cooper, the Russian broadcaster has the rights to
develop new story lines around the characters beyond the original 13 scripts,
making it a longer-running series.

BBC Worldwide has also
licensed local versions to France and Canada, and a Chilean version premiering
next month. The original British version of The Office has sold into more than 70 countries.

“This is the first
scripted format we have licensed to Russia and marks another breakthrough for
our business in the country,” commented BBC Worldwide’s head of sales for
Russia, Ben Donald. “Russia is an important territory for us; we’ve had much
success with other formats such as Dancing with the Stars, Junior Mastermind and most recently Great Russians, which
is currently causing huge debate in the media.”

He continued: “We are
obviously very eager to hear about the cast members, including who will be the
David Brentski of Russia, and the location of their ‘Slough.’”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski