'Episodes' sold to 186 countries

Hat Trick International has sold comedy series Episodes to 186 countries worldwide.

Broadcasters including Channel Nine Australia, Kanal 5 Sweden, TV2 Denmark, TVNorge Norway, Fox Russia, Turner Latin America and HBO Central Europe have picked up the rights to the first series.

Penned by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, the show centres on a pair of British scriptwriters (Tamsin Grieg, Stephen Mangan) who head out to LA to remake their show for US television. However, they soon end up having problems due to a controlling network boss, who insists that they give former Friends stars Matt LeBlanc the lead role.

"Episodes has certainly lived up to expectations. It's been incredibly well received internationally thanks to its stellar cast and clever script," said director of sales at Hat Trick International Sarah Tong.

"Episodes takes the lid off Hollywood in a witty and insightful way like no other show before and this has proved a topic of worldwide fascination."

The final instalment of the first series of Episodes airs on Monday at 10pm on BBC Two.