TVAPlus: Looking at sales and distribution firstly; how did last year fare compared to 2010 and how you are seeing content moving and what sort of content is moving in Asia Pacific currently? Steve: We’re certainly seeing more digital deals, particularly in China, Taiwan and also in Korea. Also other than digital, we have done a lot more formats in the past 12 months. Last year was also the first time we cracked Korea. On top of that, we have actually done a lot of work around our new natural history brand called BBC Earth, especially in Japan. So I would say in terms of brand build, formats and digital, we have done a lot more so we’re very happy with it over the last year. TVAPlus: In terms of China, there is so much going on. You’ve got Last Choir Standing, Just the Two of Us, Top Gear, Tonight’s the Night. It’s like format-overload. How much can it take? Steve: I love the way you put it. But you know, it’s not a bad situation to be in with all our formats in China. It also shows what a great array of shows we’ve got coming out of our catalogue that are working internationally. We’re happy about the business in China. You know we can always do more; the business in China is still relatively small. TVAPlus: Exactly, it’s still just a drop in the pool for business. Do you think that these formats will drive other content and genres here? For instance, drama? You’ve got natural history coming through, but what else in the pipeline? Steve: Well certainly, we’ve got a very good relationship with CCTV. CCTV9, which is obviously the factual channel, is airing a lot of our content. This all started with our series Wild China, our first co-production in China. And we’ve sold that in 160 countries around the world now. So it’s a big global show and it’s literally rooted in China and it premiered on the Chinese national factual channel. So that’s a great success story. We’re going to continue to be selling factual programmes in China obviously and also doing more co-productions as well. Most of our key formats are already here, the key thing is to keep those formats going. If you look at DWTS in the US, it’s in season 12, Australia’s the same. In the UK, Strictly Come Dancing which is the UK version – the original version of it has been going for years. I think it basically says something about shiny floors generally but also specifically about Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars. You know I guess having a new cast every season really really helps. And also you know, famous people that people want to watch. That also helps. So it’s obviously very important we try and keep these shows fresh and that’s also the same for China, it’s always in motion. Certainly as a business globally, we’ve been focusing on building global drama franchises and I think BBC fair to say, has been known more for its factual content – we’ve got the best natural history content in the world. Drama, we’ve had some successes. We got some drama shows which are selling very well in Asia, in Korea and particularly in Japan. The dramas are actually outperforming US shows. Like Torchwood and things like that. The next stage in our evolution in dramas is to invest in some shows of a more American origin. An example is Torchwood in the US, which is actually a reverse co-production back to the BBC. Originating on the BBC, it was actually commissioned by Starz. Starz is a famous cable network in US and they, like many other cable networks, are getting into original productions. Obviously there’s a bigger budget, a more American budget. We know that international audiences want more episodes, and so you’re going to see more of this in the coming year. One example is Davinci’s Demons. TVAPlus: Can you share a bit about this series – it’s not Davinci Code redux I’m guessing? Steve: No. no. It’s about Leonardo Davinci as a young man. Like a Sherlock kind of character. It will be, I promise you, a groundbreaking sort of drama show. But it is in the very early stages of production still. Again, we’ll be working with Starz. But certainly that just shows you that you know after Torchwood, after Top Gear US, we are going to get more into these kinds of long running drama shows, which complement our catalogue and we have the broadest catalogue of programmes in the world at 50,000 hours, covering all the genres. But we felt if there’s one thing that’s probably missing from that catalogue is just a few more of these you know, global shows. TVAPlus: Do you foresee some dramas being licensed to Asia? Could there be Sherlock Southeast Asia, as an example? Formats are very transferable. Dramas, not always. But those characters – Sherlock has done very well in India. In fact they are eagerly anticipating the next series. Steve: We would love to have more. But that’s just the kind of way British commissioning cycles go. I mean we’ll love to have more Sherlock, but I think Sherlock is also a good example of something we won’t localize. By definition he is an iconic British detective and secondly, he is so successful, why would we? It is sold everywhere. It must have sold close to 200 markets. TVAPlus: It did very well in Australia, Singapore, also very quickly. But Torchwood for instance, the fantasy realm, could have Asian characters or Asian-inspired characters. So either you take a format to another location or the characters become part of an international audience. Steve: Well I mean that’s an interesting trend. Certainly with Torchwood, there are plans to make some of the locations not US, not UK but somewhere else that will probably be filmed more international and Sinbad is another of the three big shows that will have an international cast because by definition, he kind of travels around the world. TVAPlus: So that’s obviously a trend you’re seeing that helped – it doesn’t mean you have to make a huge cost of moving somewhere to film it – but then you put in innate or implicit globalization or international characters. Steve: Well as a public service broadcaster, clearly BBC clearly needs to make programmes for the local audience. And I think most broadcasters around the world have to do that. But there are certain things, certainly co-productions by their definition, that can make shows more appealing to an international audience because co-production partners have a vested interest. The Torchwood model shows that, also Death in Paradise which was launched at MIPCOM. That’s a really innovative co-production and that’s basically filmed all in the Caribbean. So there’s definitely more of that. And I think it’s clearly a recognition that if you have an international cast in a show, then people see themselves on TV, people look like themselves. Also partly through economic necessity people are looking at new sorts of business models, co-production models particularly with drama, which are becoming in the last few years, much more widespread so we’re embracing this. TVAPlus: Any surprise hits for you that made you go, “whoa this is weird”. The popularity that Top Gear China and Korea has garnered was personally surprising. Steve: I’ll be really honest with you. The last two years I have been very pleasantly surprised how a Canadian show, Being Erica, sold around the world. It’s been one of the top five selling shows in the last few years. That was a very pleasant surprise. It would be very easy for me to say, “I knew that was going to happen.” There were some people who say, “Well people are only going to buy British shows from the BBC.” Let’s just see what happens. TVAPlus: But that also shows the strength of the BBC brand no matter what the content is originating from. Steve: Well, it shows you the strength of our distribution network and it shows you a good idea can come from anywhere.