HBO wants Jo Brand's hospital comedy

Jo Brand’s downbeat hospital sitcom Getting On is to get an American makeover.

Although the show may seem deeply rooted in the NHS, executives at the broadcaster HBO have ordered a pilot edition of a remake set on a US geriatric ward.

Will Scheffer, who is adapting the show with co-writer Mark V. Olsen, told leading entertainment industry website Deadline: ‘When we proposed the reformat, the issues in elder care were very personal to both of us.

‘Mark’s and my mother were in their 90s and attending to their care had come to be a big part of our lives. Getting On nailed that world with its deadpan humor and deep humanity.’

Brand created and starred in the original BBC Four series with Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine.

All three are credited as executive producers on the remake, which will be made by BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm.

Only nine episodes have so far been made for the BBC, but a third series is due soon.

Published: 15 Aug 2012