America has second crack at Jim

America's ABC network has given the official green light to remakes of British sitcoms The Royle Family and The Savages.

Caroline Aherne's Royle Family will be renamed The Furst Family, and move the setting to the New York suburb of Queens.

The show will be written and executive produced by Alan Zweibel , who was a consultant on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

This will be the second attempt to adapt the show to American audiences, after a 2001 CBS pilot called The Kennedys failed to be picked up.

Meanwhile, Mel Gibson has joined The Savages as an executive producer.

Hollywood trade journal Variety says the show will be loosely based on the star's own experiences.

The half-hour sitcom revolves around a working-class dad raising five teenage boys, a bigger family than Simon Nye's original BBC1 show.

Simpsons writers Mike Scully and Julie Thacker will also be working on the script.

Only six episodes of the original, which starred Marcus Brigstocke, were ever made for the BBC.

Published: 12 Feb 2004