10:13AM, Jan 06, 2009
US cable network HBO has secured the rights to make their own version of Channel 4's award-winning show Shameless.
There is speculation that their version will either be set in New York or LA.
Shameless follows the trials and tribulations of the lovable, but wayward Frank Gallagher and his dysfunctional family in the streets of Manchester.
It's not the first time the show has been banded about in the US. Three years ago Woody Harrelson was to star in a version by NBC, but the project fell through despite meetings with creator Paul Abbott.
The UK version has aired on BBC America and the Sundance Channel in the US.
ER and The West Wing producer and writer John Wells is on board to make the adaption, but HBO's Mike Lombardo knows there are big challenges ahead: "We are developing a US version of Shameless with John Wells writing. [The question is] how do you move that show to America and not lose its essence?"
Let's see if the yanks can pull it off.
