Sans powdered wigs, BBC's Silk headed for U.S. remake on ABC

This just in…a U.S. television broadcast network will try, yet again, to re-invent the wheel and adapt a British drama for American television. Surprise! ABC will re-make Peter Moffat’s British legal drama, Silk, the Bafta-nominated BBC drama which revolved around the lives of barristers at Shoe Lane chambers, and the lengths they went to to […]

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‘Downton 221bey’ anyone? Hey, it could happen….

Now THIS is what makes the Internets interesting. Since 2010, the desire and hope there would be a Sherlock/Downton Abbey crossover has been an on-again, off-again trending topic on Twitter. I recognize most of Planet Earth would rather see Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock step out of the TARDIS but, somehow, seeing Sherlock match wits with the […]

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More Foyle's War on the way in 2015

For PBS viewers, 2015 is already shaping up to be another brilliant year for British drama. You can now add Foyle’s War to the mix that already includes new seasons of Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Mr. Selfridge, Endeavour, Scott and Bailey, DCI Banks, Case Histories, Father Brown, Death in Paradise and New Tricks not to mention the new series premieres of Grantchester and Wolf Hall. To be honest, you had me at Foyle’s War!

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'Happy Valley' to 'Grantchester' was quite a change for James Norton

After binge-watching Sally Wainwright’s amazing series, Happy Valley, which starred Sarah Lancashire and Steve Pemberton, I began to see the haunting figure of Tommie Lee Royce on every street corner. Played brilliantly by James Norton, Royce was the stereotypical tormented soul/psychopathic killer (if there is such a thing). Thankfully, to get that image out of my head, all I had to do was quickly fast forward to the premiere of ITV’s Grantchester earlier this month.

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The BBC Genome – 86 years of TV and radio history

The BBC has just launched an unbelievably cool searchable online archive where you can browse the listings from every copy of the Radio Times ever published, from 1923-2009 (in case your wondering, that’s 4,469 separate editions and 350,622 pages covering 4,423,653 individual programs. Imagine, 86 years of TV and radio history at the touch of a button.

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Isle of Saint Marie to get pretty crowded for 'Death in Paradise' 4

Returning to the small screen for series 4 in early 2015, Death in Paradise continues to add to and already impressive cast list. Filming has begun with many guest stars already destined for a bit of fun on the crime-ridden island of Saint Marie including Downton Abbey‘s Amy Nuttall, Call the Midwife‘s Leo Staar, Outnumbered‘s […]

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U.S. networks to adapt 'Moone Boy', 'IT Crowd'

You might remember NBC’s fatal 2003 attempt at adapting the Steven Moffat/Sue Vertue situation comedy, Coupling. I say fatal because even though there were 11 episodes produced (which is still a miniscule number of episodes for an American sitcom), it was cancelled after only 4 episodes with 7 of them having never seen the light of day to this day. 180 degrees in the other direction, however, was NBC’s re-make of Ricky Gervais’ brilliant series, The Office, which ran for 9 seasons largely due to the talents of Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and Ed Helms.

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