The Royle Family on US TV

A. That's right, US network CBS network has just brought the rights to re-make the BBC's Royle Family, the comedy about the family of Liverpudlian couch potatoes.

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In the US version, however, the programme, to be produced by Columbia Tristar, will be renamed�The Kennedy Family.

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Q. Why

A. The Kennedys - JFK, Bobby are Teddy - are America's nearest equivalent to the British Royal Family.

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Q. Any idea who will star in the US version

A. Independence Day star Randy Quaid, the brother of Dennis Quaid, is expected to take the part of Jim Royle, no other parts have been cast.

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Q. What other British comedies have been adapted for the US audience

A. Till Death do Us Part� was probably the first to be remade for the US, over the pond it became known as All in the Family and it actually did very well.

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More recently, Absolutely Fabulous and Men Behaving Badly fared rather worse. Fans of the original versions would have hardly recognised the US adaptations, because they were so watered down. Absolutely Fabulous was even ditched before it hit the airwaves.

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Q. Are comedies the only programme formats we can sell to the Americans

A.�No, not at all. Anne Robinson has just flown across the Atlantic to present a US version of the BBC's hit quiz show the Weakest Link; and the format for ITV's Who Want's to Be A Millionaire has been successfully sold across the world.

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Granada also makes a Chinese version of Coronation Street for Chinese audiences.

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By Anna Tobin

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