Emmerdale down under
Australia's UKTV has picked up the rights to Emmerdale, marking the first time the soap will be shown in the country.
The programme will run five months behind the British schedule, starting from the Viv, Bob, Donna and Marlon double wedding episode, screened in the UK back in January.
The channel's other major British acquisitions, Coronation Street and EastEnders, appear amongst the top 20 most-watched pay TV shows on most days. The Yorkshire-based soap will be scheduled between the pair in a 6.30pm timeslot from Sunday, July 2.
Head of Programming Brendan Dahill has great expectations, telling DS: "UKTV is constantly striving to make the channel a destination for Australian viewers with compelling, exclusive content that they cannot see anywhere else. So the decision to bring Emmerdale to Australia was a no-brainer really.
"I decided, not long after starting at UKTV, that I wanted to unite the UK’s top three programmes on the channel and after that it was just a matter of timing.
"After running double episodes of Coronation Street and EastEnders to bring us more up-to-date with the UK, we now have space for Emmerdale and we will only be five months behind the UK!
"We need compelling exclusive content like Emmerdale to highlight UKTV and make a noise in the marketplace to convince subscribers of our value."
Tony Iffland, UKTV's CEO, added: "For UKTV to be convincingly the best of British television it was a must for us to show the top three programems from the UK."