When asked what the BBC’s most popular export is, a lot of people might be tempted to turn to controversial car show Top Gear or long-running family favourite Doctor Who.

But the answer is slightly more peculiar with international broadcasters instead flocking to buy 1990s sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

Broadcasters from countries including Bulgaria, Nigeria and Latvia have purchased the rights to series one of the quintessentially British comedy, which has been sold 992 times in the last 40 years.

It beat natural history show The Life of Mammals, which is second having been sold 958 times.
In third place is another nature programme, Wild South America: Andes to Amazon, while fourth is Wild Africa, according to data released by BBC Worldwide.

Roy Clarke, creator of Keeping Up Appearances, said he thought the show was so popular because ‘everyone knows a Hyacinth’.

He added: ‘The Old Girl keeps on raising and ridding the dust.

‘It appears that she’s an international phenomenon. Wherever you are it seems there’s a Hyacinth next door, or just down the road or in the family.
‘Great fun for half an hour as a spectator – but permanently? I shouldn’t grumble. Bless her she’s been good to me.’

The data highlights the shows that have sold the most over the last four decades in relation to BBC’s Showcase.
It is based on the number of times a title has been bought rather than the number of territories.

So while modern shows – including Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Luther, Top Gear, Silent Witness and Planet Earth – have been purchased by more than 200 territories across the world, older shows, using this method, appear more popular.

The most purchased drama series is series one of Doctor Who, which has attracted 629 buyers from countries including Bahrain, Hong Kong, France and Chile.

Meanwhile, Top Gear is the most bought factual entertainment series, with series nine clocking up 282 sales in countries ranging from Albania, China, Iceland, Iran, Russia, the USA and beyond.

Paul Dempsey, president of global markets at the Corporation, added: ‘We are extremely proud of our heritage and back catalogue so it’s fun to look back into the archives and celebrate the enduring appeal of some of our classic shows.

‘At the same time, it’s clear that the priority for today’s audiences is event TV with high-production values.

‘It’s no coincidence that our current best sellers are premium dramas like Doctor Who and Sherlock, high-end entertainment shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Top Gear, and our world-renowned natural history programmes like The Hunt.’

Doctor Who comic book artist Rachael Stott has had a rather fitting thank you note from Mr Peter Capaldi – his own drawing.

Stott, who has also worked on Star Trek and Planet of the Apes, tweeted the gorgeous painting penned by the current Doctor, joking that it was her own fan mail.

The Time Lord’s note to the artist reads:
“To Rachel, what an incredible artist you are. Thank you so much for making my Doctor who he is. You’ll never know how large a part you played. Love, light and peace, Peter.”
In the bottom right hand corner it’s signed ‘P CAPALDI FEB 2015’

Capaldi has form for thoughtful thank you notes, recently sending a video message to fans who’d helped celebrate his birthday, speaking in Russian, German and even sign language.

I GOT FANMAIL I'M CRYING OMG #doctorwho#PeterCapaldi pic.twitter.com/9LCLkWhyV5

— Rachael Stott will be at C2E2 (@RachaelAtWork) February 17, 2016

The Doctors will take Manhattan together this April at the Wizard World convention in New York.

Yearning to recreate the Doctor Who team-up glory days of The Day of the Doctor? Got several hundred dollars, plane tickets to America and a hotel booking in New York burning a hole in your pocket? Then you’re in luck – because former Doctors Matt Smith and David Tennant will be appearing together for a special convention appearance for the first time ever.

The pair will appear together this April at pop culture convention Wizard World in New York, the first time the two Doctors have attended such a public event together.
Their appearance will include a panel plus photographs with fans and autographs.

Tickets for a photo or autograph start at $150 (£105), while anyone hoping to snap a picture with both Doctors and see everything they’re up to will be looking at $850 (almost £600).
Still, if fans are worried that’s beyond their budget, there’s plenty more Doctor Who stars attending the conference to try your luck with, including Tennant and Smith’s companions Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, with mutual wife Alex Kingston also popping by for a quick “Hello Sweetie”.

It’s just a great big TARDIS reunion really.

Doctor Who will be mostly absent from our telly in 2016 – but a new spinoff, Class, is coming to BBC Three and, word has it, it’s “brilliant”.

Damian Kanavagh – digital controller for BBC Three – told Digital Spy that writer Patrick Ness and producer Brian Minchin have an “amazing vision” for the series.
“I’ve read some of the scripts, I’ve met and talked to Patrick and Brian, and I think their vision for it is amazing,” he said.

Class is set in Doctor Who’s Coal Hill School and will follow its students as they battle intergalactic monsters and other sinister villains.There’ll be yet more shocking events in halls of education in Clique – a new drama from Skins writer Jess Brittain that’s being pitched as Skins for the university age.

“I’ll tell you, when I read the first script of Clique, it just leaps off the page,” Kavanagh said. “There’s so many layers and so much intrigue to it.”
Thirteen – a kidnap thriller from rising star Marnie Dickens – will also form part of BBC Three’s new output, with Kavanagh hinting that the brand shifting online means “more scope” for drama, not less.

“We’re working with BBC Worldwide – there’s a couple of projects in the pipeline, not only in drama,” he explained. “If they come on board there’s additional money, so there’s ways to make budgets go further.

“You’ll see that with pretty much every broadcaster. The story around Humans [a co-production with US broadcaster AMC] isn’t too dissimilar on Channel 4.”

 

They played on-screen partners in crime for one series.

After Jenna Coleman and Matt Smith both quit Doctor Who to pursue other projects, their friendship was put on the back burner as they were tied up in their various career commitments.
Therefore it was little wonder the former co-stars were so thrilled to be reunited as they attended a pre-BAFTA party in London on Friday evening.

They played on-screen partners in crime for one series
But after Jenna Coleman and Matt Smith both quit Doctor Who to pursue other projects, their friendship was put on the back burner as they were tied up in their various career commitments.
Therefore it was little wonder the former co-stars were so thrilled to be reunited as they attended a pre-BAFTA party in London on Friday evening.

The ex Clara Oswald actress gently rested her head on the former Doctor’s chest as they posed inside the venue which was filled with some of the film industry’s biggest talents.
The former BBC One stars couldn’t contain their happiness to be back in each other’s company once again as lapped up the pre-award-ceremony celebration.

Jenna was impeccably styled in a little black dress which was lattice in design, exposing odd glimpses of her freshly-tanned flesh as well as her slender legs thanks to the knee-length hem.
She teamed the cinched-waist mini dress with a pair of bandage-style shoes, which elongated her petite frame, while she threw a black wool coat over her shoulders for a high-fashion edge.

Meanwhile, Matt picked out a black-grey wool two-piece suit for the occasion and he looked devilishly handsome in the dapper get-up.
Matt played the Eleventh Doctor from 2010-2013 before returning in 2014 in a cameo capacity.
He’s set to star in Netflix series The Crown as Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh later in the year.

Meanwhile, Jenna was the leading lady in the sci-fi series from 2012-2015. She confirmed she was leaving back in September, saying: ‘I have left the Tardis – it’s happened. I’ve filmed my last scenes.’

She has since secured the main role as Queen Victoria in the ITV drama entitled Victoria.

WHEN a student informed her teacher her father was in trouble at home because he had bought a full-sized Dalek without first checking with her mother, her school came to the rescue.

The ultimate sci-fi villain – a 5ft high replica Dalek – has now been given a permanent home at Stokesley School in North Yorkshire, after a student’s father made the unforgivable error of successfully bidding for it at a convention without consulting his other half.
The unnamed student and her father are both fans of the cult television programme and have met the present Doctor Who incarnation, Peter Capaldi.

But the replica Dalek did not receive a warm reception at home – not least because it would not fit through the front door. The girl’s mother was so upset she threatened to exterminate her husband – so it was offered to Stokesley School headteacher Catherine Brooker.
A spokesman for the school said: “It caused great amusement positioned outside the headteacher’s office, believed by children to be part of a new behaviour management system.

“Teachers were surprisingly keen to be photographed with it.
“Indeed, one member of staff enjoyed being secreted in it during assembly and then surprising students by not only activating the Dalek by moving menacingly towards them but enhanced the impact with very convincing, recorded sound effects.”

The replica was used to inspire a creative writing competition where students were encouraged to submit short stories titled The Day the Daleks Came to Stokesley, with Dr Who themed prizes for the winners.
As a Dr Who expert, the girl whose father had bought the Dalek was one of the competition judges.

The school spokesman said teachers had been surprised by the large number of entries, adding: “Our imaginative authors featured such horrors as Mrs Brooker swinging from the ropes in the gym to rescue students from extermination, Mr Fazakerley fighting off Daleks armed only with his world globe and Mrs Stevenson taking the opportunity to stage a coup and put her name on the head’s office door.”

The winners were; Sacha Barnes-Wood, Andrew Ramsdale, Jenny Petch, Patrick Davies, Eleanor Sigsworth, Freddie Cowey, George Watson, Stella Kennedy and Benjamin Barker