Cult favourite turned Emmy Award winner ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ has finally landed in the UK. After 11 years of the original American version, the unthinkable yet overdue actually happened: BBC Three became the host of the British version.

Many American shows have tried and failed to reformat for a British audience. This year, ‘The Bachelor’ tried its luck for the third time. Currently filming its twenty-fourth season in the US, the UK version had all of the cringe and none of the redeeming features. Brits don’t tend to be openly romantic, vulnerable, or open to public heartbreak in exchange for a few thousand Instagram followers. However, we love off-beat humour, artistic identity, and good old fashioned campness, so perhaps it comes as no surprise that ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ seems to have successfully landed across the pond.

RuPaul and Michelle Visage have flown over to remain as permanent jobs, while Alan Carr and Graham Norton – darlings of British television – alternate episodes as a third judge. Andrew Garfield, who rose to mainstream fame in The Social Network, takes the first guest judge spot and is an unexpected star. Who would have thought that the 36-year-old quiet and refined star would be exploding with true superfan knowledge and double entendres?

The first episode is a roaring success. The show’s set and format remains much the same, but there is no forced desire to keep content the same as the original version. The franchise has fully anticipated and welcomed British vulgarity, self-deprecation, and incredibly niche references. Refreshingly, the show actually feels like it’s made for the local audience, full of references that even RuPaul doesn’t understand: a nod to Kim Woodburn (a cleaner off the telly), a queen’s challenge outfit that reimagines the Birmingham Bullring Bull, a snipped of the Eastenders soundtrack, all of which are gentle but noticed reminders that the show intends to celebrate our culture and drag scene, allowing a true representation that comes not from producers or presenters but the queens themselves.

The franchise has hit a sweet spot: remaining recognisably close to the original while encouraging fresh and loud voices to shape the British version into its own unique entity. Apparently even American audiences are loving the more raunchy and audacious humour, even if they have to use subtitles for some of the accents. Luckily for us, RuPaul and BBC Three did most definitely not “f**k it up”.

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