TF1 preps local Dancing with the Stars

France’s leading commercial broadcaster TF1 is getting ready to air a local version of BBC Worldwide hit format Dancing with the Stars. The French broadcaster is about to announce the celebrity line-up and the show will go out this spring.

The French deal is significant for BBC Worldwide as it is one of the major territories that has not previously aired the show. It will be produced by BBC Worldwide Productions France and TF1. Laurent Storch, programming director at TF1 was at the finale of the most recent UK series (Strictly Come Dancing) just before Christmas.

Worldwide recently held a Dancing with the Stars conference in the UK for clients and it is the distributor’s most successful format. In the US eleven series of the show have aired on ABC and Worldwide has sold it to more than thirty other territories.

BBC Worldwide is now trying to replicate that success with another shiny-floor format, Tonight’s the Night, the 2009 BBC One series in which members of the public with a hidden talent or an interesting story get to live out their dreams on TV. Several international deals will be announced soon.