America my arse

US wants its own Royle Family

The Americans are to have another attempt at remaking The Royle Family.

Caroline Aherne's comedy is the latest in a wave of British sitcoms - including Coupling, Father Ted and The Office - to attract the attention of network executives.

The Fox network previously ordered a series under the title The Grubbs, but it never made the screen.

Now ABC has also picked up on the show - which it is tentatively calling The First Family - for a pilot script.

Alan Zweibel, who previously worked on Larry David's award-winning Curb Your Enthusiasm, is to write and produce the adaptation, Variety reports.

Recent Brit exports have had mixed success in the States. Coupling, which was touted as a replacement for Friends, was dropped from two prime-time slots this week.

Meanwhile, NBC has just ordered a pilot of The Office, directed by King of the Hill creator Greg Daniel, and CBS is looking at the Victoria Wood comedy Dinnerladies.

Published: 16 Oct 2003

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.