BBC lands rights to Gossip Girl reboot and original series

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 19h

The BBC picks up the rights to the new version of Gossip Girl in addition to all six seasons of the original series.

The BBC has announced that it has secured the UK rights to the upcoming reboot of teen drama Gossip Girl.

The show, which follows a group of socialite teens at school in New York, originally aired between 2007 and 2012, making names of stars such as Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, Blake Lively and Leighton Meester.

The new version - developed for US streaming service HBO Max - will feature an entirely new cast but will be set within the same continuity of the original show, with Kristen Bell returning as the narrator - the titular 'Gossip Girl'.

The BBC has not only picked up the rights to the new show but all six seasons of the original, which will be made available as a boxset on iPlayer, while the new incarnation will also go out on BBC One.

"The BBC has a rich track record of acquiring some of the best content from around the world to complement our original commissions and we are delighted to be reacquainting existing fans and introducing new viewers to the iconic world of Gossip Girl on BBC iPlayer," said iPlayer director Dan McGolpin.

"The original series defined an era and we cannot wait for everyone to see the new series with its exciting new generation."

The reboot begins streaming weekly on HBO Max next week but the BBC has yet to confirm an exact date for its UK release, instead saying that it will arrive "later this year".