Companies in various countries are competing to acquire the broadcasting rights for the comedy series "Servant of the People," which stars the Ukrainian President before he assumed office, portraying the role of the Ukrainian president himself!
In 2015, comedian Volodymyr Zelensky played the character Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko, a high school teacher who becomes president after one of his students posts a video of him condemning corruption in Ukraine. Goloborodko begins managing the country's affairs while avoiding the perks of being a leader by maintaining his normal life.
The series achieved significant success in Ukraine, running for three seasons, and attention peaked following the country's attack by Russia.
Channel 4 in the UK announced that it holds the broadcasting rights for the series and plans to air an episode on Sunday.
Echo Rights, the company holding the broadcast rights, reported deals with television channels in the Middle East, Greece, and Romania, in addition to radio stations in Bulgaria, Moldova, Estonia, France, Finland, and Georgia. Echo Rights donated €50,000 to the Ukrainian Red Cross and has removed any Russian TV shows or Russian-produced content from its programming. According to "Sky News Arabia," the series won the Best Long Narrative Series award at the Teletriumph Awards in Ukraine and also won the Gold Remi for television comedy in 2016 at the Worldfest Festival in Houston.
