MIPCOM Hot Pick: Nation’s Brightest

Nation’s Brightest has been a big hit for German public broadcaster and now BBC One has greenlit a local version.

Nation’s Brightest

The format, which was created by German production company I&U, sought out the brightest individual in Germany, with the first phase of the show travelling from town to town before the regional winners went head to head in a studio section.

The original 4x3hr German version of the show doubled public broadcaster ARD’s ratings among 18-to-49s in its timeslot.

Zodiak Rights acquired the international rights and is hoping the upcoming UK version will help drive sales around the world.

There is no phone-in voting or premium call element in the show and it is not filmed live, which helps keep the cost of making it down. The bus element is also more cost-effective than the audition round in many talent series, which require the hire of large venues.

The rounds range from general knowledge to tests of creativity, logic, intuition, memory, emotional and spatial awareness and physical dexterity.

“There’s not a talent show for people interested in these things and this show is grounded in people’s lives and is more relatable than a lot of what’s on air at the moment,” says Barnaby Shingleton, Zodiak’s head of entertainment.

Zodiak company RDF will make the UK version, The Brightest Briton, which was commissioned by Mark Linsey, BBC’s controller of entertainment and channel controller Danny Cohen as a Saturday night primetime show for next spring.

It will comprise 4x75mins rounds and 2x60mins studio finals. The show features a bus that travels the country and in which people face various tests of intelligence. The best of these then compete in the studio section, which will have various entertainment-skewed challenges, before a grand final.

The show: Nation’s Brightest

The producer: I&U (Germany)

The distributor: Zodiak Rights

Concept: Nationwide quiz format