The long gestating remake of the cult TV series THE PRISONER is on the fast-track for the UK’s Sky One. Zap2it reports that Christopher Eccleston, who starred in the first season of the revived DR. WHO series, is now taking on the role of Number Six, originally portrayed by Patrick McGoohan:
The new series, slated to run for six
episodes, would likely premiere sometime next year, 40 years after the
original debuted on ITV. Rumors of a new series have been percolating
for some time, but Sky One didn’t greenlight the project until this
week. Bill Gallagher, writer of the BAFTA Award-nominated series "Conviction"
(no relation to the NBC show) and "Clocking Off," will pen the scripts
for the new "Prisoner."
In this era of Gitmo, Tony Blair, and Abu Graib, the saga of Number Six is more timely than ever.
I LOVED that series! And yes, I’m old enough to remember it well. It will air,I hope, on BBC America? Please tell me this to be true. But wait-40 years? Uh, I’m not that old. Well, now that I count back…
A pedant writes:
Bill Gallagher might’ve written episodes of Clocking Off, but he didn’t create it, that was Paul Abbott, who started off writing Coronation Street, and went on to do Shameless, State of Play and loads of other stuff post-clocking off.
Aspiring Actors, Check Out the U.K.
Link: A Writer’s Life: Dr. Who Taken Prisoner For years I have said it—England only has about twenty or so actors / actresses. Just watch BBC America one night and you’ll see. It’s almost like they finish taping one show