Life On Mars US hits the skids
- Published: 16 June 2008 10:52
- Author: Greg Brooks
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- Last Updated: 16 June 2008 11:06
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The US remake of hit BBC show Life on Mars is facing stormy waters on its transatlantic crossing after losing its writer-producer and scrapping its original pilot.
The UK show, which starred John Simms as a detective who finds himself transported back to 1970s Manchester, is being recreated for the American audience by the ABC network.
It was due to be broadcast this autumn, but a pilot episode, shot on the streets of Los Angeles and set in 1972 now seems unlikely to be aired following the decision by David E. Kelley, the writer-producer also responsible for hits including Ally McBeal and Boston Legal, to walk away from the project.
The backdrop of the show is now being moved from LA to New York and it is understood that several cast members are being replaced, although lead actors Colm Meaney (DCI Gene Hunt) and Jason O'Mara (Sam Tyler) are believed to retain their roles.
The Bafta-winning British series already has a cult following in the US after being shown on BBC America, but co-creator Matthew Graham and fellow writers have had little input on the US version apart from a two-hour meeting with Kelley, who has not given any reasons for his departure.
Life on Mars is the latest in a line of shows that have hit problems when crossing the Atlantic. US incarnations of Cracker and Coupling both flopped, although Ricky Gervais' The Office was a hit when it was reset in Scranton, Pennsylvania instead of Slough.
