Strong international sales boost Zen hopes

Strong international sales of axed BBC One drama Zen boosts hope that a new broadcaster will be found for the detective drama.

Strong international sales of axed BBC One drama Zen boosts hope that a new broadcaster will be found for the detective drama. The three-part Italian based drama starring Rufus Sewell aired on BBC One in January with a big advertising campaign. The drama performed well with it averaging 5.7 million viewers across its three episodes despite tough competition on ITV from Dancing on Ice and Wild at Heart. As announced last week though Zen has not been renewed by the BBC for a second season as new controller Danny Cohen stamps his mark on the station.

The news has prompted much criticism from fans and comes just weeks after Cohen axed Lark Rise to Candleford also to the anger of much fans. Despite the axing of Zen the producers, Left Bank, vowed to find another broadcaster. The hope of doing that has been boosted by strong international sales reports Media Guardian. The detective drama has been sold to Australia, Denmark, Japan and Sweden (amongst others) raising hopes another broadcaster will step forward.

Ironically Left Bank is actually partly owned by BBC Worldwide, the corporations commercial arm. The BBC may well change their minds and bring Zen back – after all Not Going Out was originally cancelled by the BBC before a change of heart. If the BBC don’t change their minds possible new broadcasters in the UK include ITV, Channel Four or Sky.