ITV has licensed its popular show Ant and Dec to Chinese Hunan TV (湖南卫视). Intially 13 episode will be made following the show’s formula. The show will be renamed as Super 2008: Friday Night Takeaway.

Guardian’s Mark Sweney reports

ITV is to remake its scandal-hit show Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway for Chinese TV, complete with a new version of the controversial Jiggy Bank phone-in competition using a giant hippo instead of a pig.

Granada International, ITV’s international division, has struck a licensing deal with Hunan TV for a Chinese version called Super 2008: Friday Night Takeaway.

Full report.