Korea’s Grandpas format heading for Europe

Hit Korean format Grandpas Over Flowers has been optioned in France, Germany and the UK.

The show comes from South Korean channel operator and programmer CJ E&M, which runs it domestically on its tvN channel. Tim Crescenti’s Small World IFT sells it internationally.

Small World has done deals for the show in the UK with indie Chalkboard, which has optioned it, as has Shine’s local production unit in France.

In Germany, Seapoint Productions has picked up the show. Seapoint is the prodco launched earlier this year by former ITV Studios Germany managing director Stefan Oezle.

Further afield, Melbourne-based Australian indie producer ActiveTV has taken local rights and will attempt to get a local version away.

In the series a group of elderly celebs face travel-based challenges. It has been popular in South Korea, sparking spin-offs Sisters Over Flowers and drama series Flowers Grandpas Investigators.

Earlier this year it was acquired by US broadcast network NBC with The Bucket List producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron on board.

The US version, Better Late than Never, will go into production early next year and it will likely debut in May as a six- or eight-episode, one-hour series.

Grandpas Over Flowers is covered in TBI’s Korean content feature, which looks at the new wave of shows coming out of the Asian country.