BATH, U.K. — “Frisky Business,”a comedic TV documentary series about sex toy firm Lovehoney — has been snapped up in eight additional countries since its debut.
The series which was first screened on British TV in the spring is currently airing on Netflix in the U.S. and starts on the free-to-air Australian channel SBS2 on Friday.
Six countries in Europe have also bought rights to the six-part show: SBS Oy (TV5) in Finland, TVN in Poland, Discovery in Netherlands, VTM in Belgium, Metropole in France, and TV Norge in Norway.
A crew from Bristol-based production company Oblong Films spent five months filming at Lovehoney's HQ in Bath and covered all aspects of the company – from the customer care team fielding intimate questions from shoppers to the returns department dealing with unwanted sex dolls.
The cameras were based at Lovehoney’s HQ from July 2013 to January 2014.
"We are delighted that Frisky Business is proving so popular around the world,” said Richard Longhurst, co-owner of Lovehoney. “The key for us was working with such a respected team of film-makers in Oblong . They produced a series which was seriously funny, but also a fascinating insight into what really goes on behind the scenes at a fast-growing international e-tailer."
A spokesman for Oblong said, "It's great news that ‘Frisky Business’ is having such an impact globally. It shows how retailers can benefit from collaborating with respected filmmakers. We are always looking for interesting companies to work with."
Longhurst insists that the Oblong crew was given unfettered access and Lovehoney.com had no say over the final edit.
“A TV series like ‘Frisky Business’ is a great way to market Lovehoney to a global audience.
"I would stress, though, that making a TV series is not easy,” Longhurst added. “You have to provide engaging content for the cameras, which means that your staff needs to be wholly on board with the whole project.”
Out of their 130 staff members only two did not want to be filmed, “and obviously we respected their wishes,” Longhurst said.
Oblong also produced the one-off Channel 4 documentary on Lovehoney, “More Sex Please, We're British,” which first aired two years ago and was also picked up globally.
