IT is a time-travelling historical romance dubbed Scotland's Game Of Thrones which has been snapped up by TV channels around the world ...

except in the UK.

Now the makers of Outlander have hinted they are close to a deal which means Scottish fans will finally get to see the £50 million blockbuster.

The series made its global debut on the Starz channel - the broadcaster behind Da Vinci's Demons, Spartacus, and The Pillars of the Earth - in the US in August. The first episode attracted five million views and a second series was swiftly commissioned.

It has now been bought from Sony Pictures, which is licensing the series, by 87 territories, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Brazil, Uruguay, Denmark and Ireland.

A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures told the Sunday Herald there was no news regarding when it would be shown in the UK, but she added: "We are hoping to be able to say more soon."

The series has a ready-made audience in the form of legions of dedicated fans of the bestselling novels on which it is based, written by US author Diana Gabaldon.

Among them is Shona Duthie, 28, from Aberdeenshire, who started an online petition calling for Outlander to be screened in the UK.

"I have been desperately hoping for news on when it will be shown," she said. "I read the books about 10 years ago and I just absolutely love them. I have read the first one, I would say, over 20 times and the rest of them I've read several times.

"I just don't understand why UK TV is not picking it up.

"A lot of the fans in the UK are running Twitter feeds and we are constantly messaging TV channels, making them aware that there is a huge fan base and just trying to find out when it is going to be shown. But nobody seems to be committing to anything."

It is rumoured that the show has been picked up by a multi-channel broadcaster, with Sky - which screens Game Of Thrones - the most likely contender. However, yesterday, a spokeswoman for Sky, said: "We're constantly looking for the very best programmes for our customers but at present have no new acquisitions to announce."

Gabaldon's eight-book series, which has sold more than 20 million copies, follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945, played by Irish star Caitriona Balfe, who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743 and the Jacobite uprising, and forced to marry a young Scottish warrior, played by Sam Heughan.

The first series of Outlander, which started filming in Scotland last September, is estimated to have brought around £20m to the local economy. A vast temporary studio was set up in a former warehouse in Cumbernauld for the show, while a number of locations across Scotland - including Doune Castle in Perthshire and Glasgow's Pollok Country Park - have also been used. Earlier this year it was claimed the TV series was being held back from a UK broadcast by the independence referendum, a claim rejected by Gabaldon.

Angela Sasso, an administrator for fan group Outlandish UK, which held a convention in Edinburgh earlier this year, believes a more likely reason is the timing of the show in the US, where it is being screened as a split season in two parts. Eight episodes were broadcast from August until September, and the show will not return again until April next year for the final eight episodes.

Sasso said: "A UK broadcaster may be thinking we don't want a split season and we can't get ahead of the show in the US, so they couldn't even possibly begin to ­broadcast it here until the middle of February or March in order to not overtake other markets. That is why I have always thought that when they announced it would be a split season in the US, the whole thing would be pushed back here.

"The second half will be shown in the US in April - that is a six-month hiatus and a long time to leave your audience hanging. I think the UK isn't that familiar with the story or the author, so they really do need to have more of a momentum."

She added: "People I have talked to say they do believe there is absolutely a market here for it - there is an audience for it, and it will be really well received. It is just a matter of what channel picks it up and when."