BBC television a commercial success overseas

Overseas sales of Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who have helped the BBC's commercial arm to double its profits in two years.

A renaissance in UK contemporary drama, including Spooks, Hustle and Hotel Babylon, has also boosted sales of BBC programmes around the globe.

BBC Worldwide, which exploits BBC products for commercial gain, reported record profits of £89.4 million ($272.34 million) in 2005/ 2006, up 62 per cent from the previous year.

It has now set a new target of achieving profits of more than £100 million over the next 12 months.

The success of ballroom dancing show Strictly Come Dancing in Britain has been replicated around the world, where it has been sold to 27 countries.

The US version of Dancing with the Stars, as the show is known internationally, was watched by 27 million people and became the ABC network's top rating entertainment show.

In Finland, the format, in which celebrities learn to dance to a near professional level, gained an average 61 per cent audience share over its eight week run, and was watched by 1.4 million viewers a week in a country of 5 million, while in Australia, it is in its fifth series. New Zealand has just finished screening its second series to a huge viewing audience.

On the back of this demand, Worldwide has set up a new production office in Los Angeles to search for the next big international hit, under Wayne Garvie, who oversaw Strictly Come Dancing in the UK.

But it is shows like Doctor Who, Spooks and Hustle, all shown on BBC1 in the UK, that are the biggest earners for the commercial wing, with global television sales accounting for £31.7 million of its profits.

Slick con series Hustle was the best-selling programme, bought by more than 40 countries, including Vietnam, Israel, Kuwait and South Africa. Doctor Who has been sold to 27 countries in the last year, including Korea, where it was the first drama series ever to be shown in prime time. It was the number one series on the Sci-Fi Channel in the US this spring.

Spooks, in which intelligence agents combat terrorist threats, has sold well to Russia, Hungary, Bosnia and the Ukraine and is also popular in the US, where it has been rebranded MI:5.

John Smith, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, said: "The success of Strictly Come Dancing has led people to think that Britain is quite a cool place where some interesting things are coming out. We're actively looking at what comes next."

He added: "There is a thirst for shows like Hustle and Spooks. Britain is on a creative roll and the BBC is producing some top notch drama that is very exploitable."

Some of Worldwide's plans for growth are more controversial, including a project to introduce advertising on the BBC's website overseas, but not in the UK.

Critics fear it could be the "thin end of the wedge", paving the way for adverts on the British site and distorting the global advertising market.

Mr Smith insisted: "Our intention is to have a limited amount of advertising, no pop-ups and no banners, not intrusive, just enough for it to be a profitable activity."

In children's programming, the only area where Worldwide remains unprofitable, the company is seeking to set up new channels around the world on the model of the existing BBC Kids in Canada, to make and buy the rights to more new shows and to develop titles across different media.

Two Teletubbies-branded educational zones have recently been set up in Chinese shopping malls.

Mobile phones are another potential goldmine for Worldwide, which has already struck a deal with Orange to show video clips of The Office, Little Britain and I'm Alan Patridge.

- INDEPENDENT