Iconic American sitcom Cheers is being remade in the UK, with Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye working on the scripts.
Well here’s a bit of TV news nobody saw coming. Iconic American sitcom Cheers is gearing up for a British remake.
According to Deadline, production company Big Talk is in the early stages of development on a UK version of Cheers, which will be set in a pub instead of a bar (this is a good time to highlight Craig Cash and Phil Mealey’s brilliant early 2000s sitcom Early Doors, which was set in a Manchester pub, though it was far more realistic and low key than the quick fire humour of Cheers). The remake is being pitched to broadcasters but has not yet been picked up.
Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye has been enlisted to write the scripts. A prolific writer, Nye’s other work includes Martin Freeman vehicle Hardware, Is It Legal?, the terrific How Do You Want Me?, which starred Dylan Moran and Charlotte Coleman, and the star studded ITV Pantomimes, which were broadcast in the early 2000s. Nye is no stranger to American remakes, Men Behaving Badly went Stateside in 1996, it was cancelled mid way through the second season.
Big Talk’s chief executive Kenton Allen said in a statement, “I might be insane. The British pub is an endangered species, so there’s an answer for the ‘Why now?’ about it. The attitudes of Cheers in the 80s are very different to the attitudes of today, so there’s a massive amount of work to be done around taking inspiration from the original characters but creating something fresh”.
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The same article also revealed that Simon Blackwell’s sitcom Back, which starred David Mitchell and Robert Webb, is being remade in America by HBO.
Cheers remains one of the most popular sitcoms in US history, and for good reason – it has a brilliant ensemble cast and some of the smartest, funniest writing on television. Whether it was the ongoing love story between Ted Danson’s Sam Malone and Shelly Long’s Diane Chambers, the caustic one liners of Rhea Perlman’s Carla Tortelli, or the goofy back and forth between John Ratzenburger’s Cliff Clavin and George Wendt’s Norm Peterson, the theme song welcomed audiences to “the place where everybody knows your name,” and audiences still flock to reruns of the show over thirty years later.
The show originally ran from 1982 to 1993, with spin-off Frasier becoming equally popular, the rebooted version recently premiered its second series on Paramount+.
You can currently watch all episodes of the original Cheers on Paramount+. We’ll keep you updated on the remake as we hear more.
