The poster tells the story of the show: Newlyweds look forlorn as they stand knee-deep in a tropical ocean with only a bobbing red suitcase for company. As the title confirms, the unlucky couple are Stranded on Honeymoon Island.
The series (think Married at First Sight meets Survivor) was one of the buzziest new formats at Cannes’ MIPCOM television market last week — and the poster, which adorned the walls of a Palais stand, said much about the interconnected nature of the business. Here, in this sunny corner of France, was a German producer selling a show born in Denmark, raised in Belgium, and putting down roots in the UK.
Stranded on Honeymoon Island’s home on British shores is the BBC. Three sources tell Deadline that the national broadcaster secured the show despite interest from ITV and Channel 4 after it was auctioned by CPL, the maker of Love Is Blind: UK. Two people familiar with the process say the BBC has committed as much as £750,000 ($974,000) an episode, as well as a prestige slot on BBC1 and the corporation’s marketing heft. Others complain that Honeymoon Island has “hoovered up” a big slice of the BBC’s 2025 entertainment budget.
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The Seven.One Studios (formerly Red Arrow Studios) series is the BBC’s fourth major overseas entertainment import in the past couple of years. On this list you can count The Traitors (Netherlands), Gladiators (America), and the upcoming Destination X (Belgium).
Over the same timeframe, Deadline has counted at least 11 other unscripted shows across ITV and Channel 4 that originated overseas. ITV was the biggest importer, turning to Jeopardy! (America), 99 to Beat (Belgium), Password (America), Genius Game (South Korea), Wheel of Fortune (America), and just last week, an adaptation of the board game Pictionary (America). You can also count Big Brother (Netherlands) in this mix.
Furthermore, Deadline understands that ITV has made a significant play for The Summit, a survival format in which a group of contestants must carry $1M up a mountain within 14 days to keep the cash. Produced by Endemol Shine Australia, the show debuted on Nine Network down under and will be made in the UK by MasterChef producer Shine. CBS premiered a U.S. version of the series this month.
Even Channel 4 — where insiders say commissioners think as deeply about UK intellectual property as the BBC thinks about impartiality — has opened its doors to Alone and Love Triangle from the U.S. and Australia respectively.
So why are Britain’s broadcasters looking overseas for their next unscripted hit? The first thing to say is that this is nothing new. The BBC and others have always handpicked the best overseas shows and lovingly translated them for UK audiences. The Apprentice, The Masked Singer, and Married At First Sight have been on air for years and are an important part of the tapestry of viewer choice.
But UK producers argue that the foreign format tap has been turned from a trickle to a stream as networks grapple with less money and more pressure to compete with streaming services. It means they are placing fewer but bigger bets.
Acquiring a tested format can remove the sting from a thorny greenlight decision and shortcut the time it takes to establish a household brand. Where once a show like The Great British Bake Off was given years to grow on the BBC, now the instant success of The Traitors is preferable.
A senior unscripted commissioner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says that the rise of Netflix and YouTube means that UK networks must take more of a “world view” on the best ideas. “We would be cutting off our nose to spite our face if we didn’t look at what was happening outside of these shores,” this person says.
Still, some producers see the global trolley dash and interpret it as a “lack of cojones,” according to a content creator who has hit entertainment shows on the BBC and ITV. This sense has been exacerbated by a wave of entertainment reboots across major networks, with Gladiators and Big Brother being examples of shows that are both revivals and non-British formats.
Others voice concern about Britain losing its status as a proud exporter of world-conquering television. “It’s going to be the end of the industry,” argues a senior producer, who has kept a close eye on the uptick in imports.
The bearish take is not necessarily supported by the data. Format sales accounted for 7% of £435M secondary rights revenues generated by British producers last year, per trade body Pact. This was up three percentage points compared with 2022 and was the highest level since 2018.
There is also a feeling that beggars can’t be choosers. One indie boss says getting the production fee for making an overseas show could be the difference between continuing to trade or shutting up shop. “I have to weigh up the cost of keeping the business afloat against the purist in me, who wants the IP to exploit internationally,” the producer adds.
That’s not to say that Pact CEO John McVay doesn’t sympathize with anxiety over the foreign format trend. He says the BBC has a particular responsibility to foster UK ideas — both to help local producers and to keep out of the way of commercial broadcasting rivals. “I’d much rather the BBC put money into original British commissions, to support British creativity, to invest back into the economy, and to generate secondary revenues and opportunities for British business,” McVay argues.
He adds that the embrace of shows like Stranded on Honeymoon Island sits awkwardly with comments made by BBC boss Tim Davie earlier this year. In a set-piece Royal Television Society speech, the director general said the BBC must “back British storytelling” or risk diminishing the UK’s “unique cultural identity and its remarkable influence and export value worldwide.”
The BBC has been approached for comment. A source argues that overseas shows represent a small proportion of the £1.5B the broadcaster spends on original television content. They reference recent series including Race Across The World and I Kissed a Girl as being examples of locally-reared hits.
ITV declined to comment, but an insider points out that ITV1 spent more on new UK series last year than any other channel. Sources also highlighted success stories such as The 1% Club, adapted by Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
It has not stopped some producers from calling for a cap on the number of shows UK broadcasters can import, with one person arguing that this is more important than parochial conversations about moving production outside of London. McVay is not convinced, however, that protectionist quotas are the answer, meaning the production community is unlikely to lobby for them in a meaningful way.
Ian Katz, Channel 4’s chief content officer, suggests British broadcasters have a responsibility to trace the origins of the shows they are commissioning. Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event on Monday, he said: “There can be an over fetishization about whether shows are made here or elsewhere when actually the thing you want to look at is where is the IP. In unscripted for instance, everyone has got too excited about what is being made here whereas the IP is actually elsewhere and in the long term the value doesn’t accrue back to British producers.”
His unprompted intervention is a reminder that few in the British television industry wish to become stranded on foreign format island.
Max Goldbart contributed to this story
The post Britain’s Foreign Format Furore: Why The Growing Embrace Of Imported Hits Is Causing Alarm appeared first on Deadline.
