diff --git a/media/trakt/media.go b/media/trakt/media.go
index 967c1b8..f82a8e4 100644
--- a/media/trakt/media.go
+++ b/media/trakt/media.go
@@ -51,7 +51,10 @@ func (c *Client) GetShow(tvdbId string) (*Show, error) {
 	}
 
 	// translate response
-	return &(*b)[0].Show, nil
+	show := &(*b)[0].Show
+	show.Ids.Imdb = util.StripNonAlphaNumeric(show.Ids.Imdb)
+
+	return show, nil
 }
 
 func (c *Client) GetMovie(imdbId string) (*Movie, error) {
@@ -92,5 +95,8 @@ func (c *Client) GetMovie(imdbId string) (*Movie, error) {
 	}
 
 	// translate response
-	return &(*b)[0].Movie, nil
+	movie := &(*b)[0].Movie
+	movie.Ids.Imdb = util.StripNonAlphaNumeric(movie.Ids.Imdb)
+
+	return movie, nil
 }
diff --git a/util/misc.go b/util/default.go
similarity index 58%
rename from util/misc.go
rename to util/default.go
index 3f57b50..3ab3834 100644
--- a/util/misc.go
+++ b/util/default.go
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 package util
 
 import (
-	"crypto/sha256"
-	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -22,11 +20,3 @@ func Atof64(val string, defaultVal float64) float64 {
 	}
 	return n
 }
-
-func AsSHA256(o interface{}) string {
-	// credits: https://blog.8bitzen.com/posts/22-08-2019-how-to-hash-a-struct-in-go
-	h := sha256.New()
-	h.Write([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("%v", o)))
-
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%x", h.Sum(nil))
-}
diff --git a/util/hash.go b/util/hash.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16a2c20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/hash.go
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+package util
+
+import (
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+func AsSHA256(o interface{}) string {
+	// credits: https://blog.8bitzen.com/posts/22-08-2019-how-to-hash-a-struct-in-go
+	h := sha256.New()
+	h.Write([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("%v", o)))
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%x", h.Sum(nil))
+}
diff --git a/util/string.go b/util/string.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..658d165
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/string.go
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package util
+
+import "regexp"
+
+var (
+	reStripNonAlphaNumeric *regexp.Regexp
+)
+
+func init() {
+	reg, err := regexp.Compile("[^a-zA-Z0-9]+")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	reStripNonAlphaNumeric = reg
+}
+
+func StripNonAlphaNumeric(value string) string {
+	// credits: https://golangcode.com/how-to-remove-all-non-alphanumerical-characters-from-a-string/
+	return reStripNonAlphaNumeric.ReplaceAllString(value, "")
+}