ABC orders pilot of US remake

The American remake of BBC Three comedy Pulling has come a step closer to fruition.

Executives at the ABC network have given the green light to make a pilot episode, based on a script adapted from Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly’s original.

It was rewritten by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who wrote the Cameron Diaz film Bad Teacher. All four writers, plus producer Aaron Kaplan, are executive producers on the new version.

On Twitter, Horgan said: ‘Just found out the US version of Pulling has been picked up by ABC. I'm really happy, it was a great rewrite.’

This is the network’s second shot at making an American version of the show, about three single thirtysomething women, as they developed a script that came to nothing four years ago.

To Horgan’s dismay, the BBC cancelled Pulling in 2009 after two series and one special – even though it was critically acclaimed. Yet last year she said she had got over her disappointment, telling an interviewer: ‘I really don't care any more that Pulling was cancelled. It was nice that it never had a chance to get shit.’

As well as the new version of Pulling, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky are also working on Stephen Merchant’s HBO sitcom, Hello, Ladies, and the revival of the Ghostbuster movie franchise.

Published: 23 Jan 2013