Rai buys Little Mosque

Italian public broadcaster Rai has acquired Canadian comedy series Little Mosque from producer/distributor Westwind Pictures. The Canadian producer is also working with DLT Entertainment, the producer of hit BBC comedy My Family, with a view to making a local version of the show in the UK.

Westwind sells the show itself in most international territories but the Italian deal was brokered by distributor Bravo. In France Double V is handling sales and is understood to be close to sealing a deal with public broadcaster France Télévisions for the series. It has already aired on Canal+ in France.

CBC broadcasts the family-skewing comedy series in Canada and is expected to greenlight a sixth series within weeks. It has so far aired 80x30mins of the comedy across five seasons.

A US version of the show has been mooted for some time, with Fox having an option and a script for a local version already written. But personnel changes at Fox have seen the project fail to move ahead and CAA is now shopping it to other broadcasters with PBS and cable net Starz understood to be interested.