Fox orders a pilot American episode

Producers planning an American remake of Gavin & Stacey have been given the go-ahead for a pilot episode.

The first thing to change from the BBC original is the title – as the show has now been renamed Friends And Family.

Executives at the Fox network has now given the green light for the pilot, after commissioning a script back in October.

David Rosen - creator of axed MTV comedy I Just Want My Pants Back - will executive produce the US adaptation.

It has previously been claimed that James Corden and Ruth Jones could earn up to £5million each if the show becomes as big a success in the States as The Office has.

However, Jones has always played down the possibility – and as recently as last month was saying that a US series was very unlikely, given that rival American networks have twice before tried to get their own version off the ground.

‘I want to stamp out this idea that there’s going to be this American Gavin & Stacey, she said. ‘I mean it could happen, but I could win the lottery. I mean it is literally like that at the moment.

‘Can I just go on record as saying I am not making £5 million?"

The news of the pilot commission, revealed on the Deadline Hollywood website, comes on the same day it was announced that the American remake of Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly’s Pulling has also reached the pilot stage.

Published: 23 Jan 2013