BBC Studios is taking the New Zealand comedy-mystery series "Small Town Scandal" to a global audience, after it proved a hit for Sky New Zealand. The show, created by comic Tom Sainsbury, began life as a popular true crime parody podcast before being adapted for television, illustrating how podcasts can serve as an effective testing ground for TV pitches.

The series stars Sainsbury alongside Rose Matafeo, Morgana O'Reilly and Felicity Kendal, and follows a disgraced journalist-turned-podcast-host who returns to his hometown to investigate his millionaire uncle's suspicious death by lawnmower, uncovering a web of secrets among the local townsfolk. Sainsbury said the podcast format, backed by several national podcast awards, gave commissioners an instant sense of the world, characters and tone, and he credited true crime hits like Serial and The Teacher's Pet as inspiration for the original parody.