Cult British Comedy ‘Peep Show’ In Development At FX With Karey Dornetto Writing Gender Reversal Remake
Cult British comedy Peep Show is getting another chance at a U.S. adaptation with a script in development at FX. The series, which ran for nine seasons on Channel 4, is getting a gender role reversal with the two leads – played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb in the UK original – set to be played by women.
Portlandia and Superstore writer and co-exec producer Karey Dornetto is writing the adaptation.
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It is the latest attempt after Starz attempted a remake in 2016, while Fox took a run at a pilot, starring The Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki, in 2005 and Spike gave it a chance in 2008.
Sam Bain, who created the series with Jesse Armstrong (Succession), revealed the development in a self-penned article in The Guardian about diversity. “People sometimes ask if I look at my earlier work differently now – whether my shows would have been better if they had been more diverse. What would Peep Show have been like with women as the two leads? It’s a great question – and it’s one I’ll shortly have the answer to, because there is a script in development for a U.S. Peep Show with two female leads. It’s at FX Networks and it will be written by top comedy brain Karey Dornetto,” wrote Bain, who is also behind Demi Moore-feature comedy Corporate Animals.
Peep Show, which is shot through the point of view of the first-person, ran between 2003 and 2015, making it C4’s longest ever running comedy. It followed the lives of Mark Corrigan, a socially awkward loan manager, played by Mitchell, and Jeremy Usborne, a juvenile slacker and unemployed musician, played by Webb. The dysfunctional pair share a flat in London, having met at University. The show, which also starred Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman, Isy Suttie and Matt King, was a critical hit in the UK, where it won a raft of awards.
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