Hulu picks up Love in the Flesh

Hulu has acquired BBC3 dating format Love in the Flesh as part of a raft of deals by distributor Passion.

The Disney-owned youth-skewing streamer will be the US home of Ten66 Television’s format, a Broadcast Hot Pick from the London TV Screenings and Mip TV, which it will launch today.

Elsewhere, the original UK version has sold to Discovery in New Zealand, NRK in Norway, Denmark’s DR, MTV3 in Finland, Sweden’s TV4 and SIC in Portugal. Dutch Vincent TV Productions.

The format has been optioned by European indie Vincent TV Productions in the Netherlands.

Drawing on online dating, the series explores the growing trend of young people building romantic attachments to their online matches for weeks, months and years before ever meeting up. It seeks to explore whether online chemistry translate to real world love.

Bringing together six couples who have previously matched online but not met in person, the series puts their relationships to the test by taking them on a first date in a Greek villa.

The couples then spend three weeks living together to develop their relationships, undertaking challenges that will test aspects of their union and discussing the differences in dating behaviour when there are no filters or screens to hide behind.

Diversity was a key driver for Ten66, with the indie casting carefully for participants and relationships that “feel and look real”.

The 8 x 45-minute BBC3 commission, a flagship title of its schedule as it returned to linear, aired in March and April to a high of 175,000 (1.5%).

Rukhsana Mosam, founder and creative director of Ten66, noted that the series “has been picked up so quickly both for tape and format sales”.

“What has stood out head and shoulders for us from the first BBC run is the overwhelmingly glowing response from viewers who have welcomed with open arms as the first dating show with a genuinely non-gendered approach to casting,” she said.

“It was clear and really rewarding that they audience quickly picked up the effortless diversity of the relationships reflected in the show.”