Today in our ongoing coverage of theatre sports, Australia’s Working Dog Productions (The Castle, The Panel, The Dish) have sold Thank God You’re Here to China’s largest (and most invasive sounding) television station, CCTV-1.
The show will be adapted for the Chinese market and launch in April to a potential television audience of 1.2 billion people, a figure whose scale is matched only by the awesomeness of its title, Thank Heaven, Thank Earth, You Have Arrived.
Thank heaven, thank earth, you have arrived, Chinese equivalent of Hamish Blake!
Of course, this isn’t TGYH’s first global spinoff after American and British versions of the show were commissioned then cancelled after one season, a fate which Working Dog hopes to avoid in China.
”The job they have done is phenomenal,” Working Dog’s Michael Hirsh tells the SMH. ”There was a bit of focus on [Britain] and the US but the reality is the success of the show has been throughout Europe and Asia. They don’t reveal ratings but more people are going to watch this than live in Australia. This is insane.”
