The forthcoming Sherlock Christmas special will be shown on cinema screens across China, as well as on the small screen in Britain, as part of a host of deals signed between the two countries.

The series of agreements announced on Wednesday will also see new editions of the BBC documentaries Coast and the Hunt made in a partnership between the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and Chinese media organisations.

Ministers also said the drama Poldark would be made available in China from December and that British film-makers would get increased access to Chinese studios, as well as the country’s domestic market.

“Today’s announcements herald an exciting new collaboration between the Chinese and British creative industries … There is a keen appetite in China for premium British content,” said BBC Worldwide chief executive Tim Davie.

Sherlock launched in China in 2010 and, according to the BBC, the most recent series attracted 98m views on the online TV platform Youku. The Chinese screening of the forthcoming 90-minute special is subject to regulatory approval in that country. It will also be shown in other nations, although BBC Worldwide has not yet announced which these will be.

Following a treaty ratified earlier this year, it was also announced on Wednesday that BBC Earth would produce a feature-length follow-up to the 2007 documentary Earth, in partnership with the Chinese firm SMG Pictures. Earth: One Amazing Day is due for release in 2017.



That deal was due to be signed at a ceremony at Lancaster House, in central London, which was also hosting a creative showcase of the programmes for the Chinese president Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan; along with the actor Jackie Chan and members of the British royal family.

The new edition of Coast will be produced by SMG subsidiaries, with filming due to start next year. The wildlife programme, The Hunt, will be broadcast in January next year by the Chinese state broadcaster, which BBC Worldwide said reaches more than a billion people.

The culture secretary, John Whittingdale, said: “The UK’s creative industries are one of our biggest success stories, generating more than £8.8m every hour of every day for the UK economy. It is an industry of which we can rightly be proud.



“From James Bond to Downton Abbey, our creativity is renowned globally and I look forward to seeing what exciting projects and developments come out of the UK and China in the months and years to come as a result of the close partnerships being forged.”



The government also announced that a £200m development at the University of York would make 300 places available per year to students from China and other countries to train as television production staff.

•This article was amended on 21 October 2015 to clarify that Poldark is a BBC drama, not ITV as originally stated

