Norway’s NRK, Mediacorp in Singapore and Quebec’s Radio Canada are the latest broadcasters to commission local versions of French format The A-Talks.

Distributed by London-based Can’t Stop Media, the format sees a celebrity or politician face a group of 30 neurodivergent journalists who ask surprising, unpredictable, sometimes funny or poignant questions.

In Norway, Fremantle-owned production company Monster is shooting the first season of the series, which will air weekly in primetime on NRK1. Simultaneously, all episodes will be made available at the same time on the network’s streaming platform.

Singapore will be the first country in Asia to produce an adaptation of the format. Entitled The Assembly, the series will premiere in January 2025 on its 24/7 news network CNA.

French-speaking Canada’s independent production outfit Avanti Toast is working on an adaptation for Radio-Canada under the working title Le Facteur A.

This brings the total international adaptations of the format to 11. It was created by Quad+TEN and Kiosco.TV for France 2 where it was directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, the duo behind 2011 movie The Intouchables.

The format is in its third season in France and has recently been renewed in Denmark and Poland, by DR1 and Warner Bros Discovery’s TVN respectively. The first season of the Australian version, also called The Assembly, has just wrapped on ABC.

The format has also launched in the UK on public broadcaster BBC One, produced by Rockerdale, and in Spain on Mediaset España’s Telecinco/Cuatro, produced by Banijay’s ShineIberia.

It is also about to air in Sweden on SVT1, produced by Fremantle’s Baluba, and in Ireland on Virgin Media Television, made by Kite Entertainment.