ITV Granada has signed a deal with leading independent distributor DRG, acquiring hit drama Doc Martin for first-run broadcast across Asia and the Middle East. The agreement, finalized at MIPTV 2012, is the first third party deal for ITV Granada.
ITV Granada will air the programme from series 3 on partner TV platforms across Asia and the Middle East, keeping content fresh and up to date with the UK. The series will add to ITV Granada’s established line-up of award winning, primetime dramas which include Lewis, Poirot and Monroe.
Doc Martin is one of the UK’s highest rating drama series which consistently achieves in excess of 10 million viewers. It has been a success for ITV in the UK ever since its launch in 2004.
Each episode of the much-loved show follows Doc Martin, played by Martin Clunes (Reggie Perrin, Men Behaving Badly), as he turns his back on life as a celebrated ‘big city’ surgeon and moves to a sleepy seaside village to become the local doctor.
Despite his surgical brilliance (and a phobia to blood) Doc Martin has few interpersonal skills and his bedside manner soon starts to upset his new patients. To make matters worse he inherits the world’s most incompetent receptionist.
The community is united in horror at their grumpy new doctor and Doc Martin soon finds he needs all the allies he can get as he tries to negotiate his way around village life with hilarious consequences.
Simon Li, Channel Director at ITV Granada comments “It’s fantastic to be able to work with DRG on our first third party acquisition, even more so to add an award winning ITV brand like Doc Martin to our primetime schedule.”
Chris Bartlett, Vice President, Sales at DRG who brokered the deal added, “Doc Martin is a huge international brand for DRG, successful on all platforms from TV and Digital media through to Home Entertainment. We’re delighted to partner with ITV Granada in bringing this ratings hit to wider audiences throughout Asia and the Middle East.”
Doc Martin Series 3 will air on ITV Granada from July 2012.