Big Talk Studios has enlisted Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly, The Durrells) to help develop a UK-based version of the classic US sitcom ‘Cheers’ it has been revealed.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure most of you are aware that ‘Cheers’ is an iconic American sitcom that originally aired from 1982 to 1993, set in a cozy Boston bar where “everybody knows your name.” The show revolves around the bar’s staff and patrons, with former baseball player Sam Malone (Ted Danson) as the charming bartender and owner. The series explores the relationships and comedic dynamics between Sam, intellectual barmaid Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), tough waitress Carla (Rhea Perlman), clueless bartender Woody (Woody Harrelson), and regular customers like know-it-all Cliff (John Ratzenberger) and psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer). Cheers became a cultural phenomenon, beloved for its sharp wit, memorable characters, and themes of friendship and community. It also paved the way for the successful spin-off Frasier.
Big Talk is currently in the early stages of pitching the series to UK broadcasters according to Deadline who broke the news, so it is a way off being greenlit. Kenton Allen, Big Talk’s CEO, did comment it was a “huge honour” to be entrusted with the iconic property by CBS Studios, whilst also acknowledging it will be a “huge challenge” to get it right.
We often see the USA attempting to adapt UK sitcoms, but it is rarer for it to be attempted sailing the other way across the Atlantic. When they do, they often fall flat, whether it’s UK to USA, or USA to UK… There have been a few exceptions, such as the 90s UK series ‘The Upper Hand’, which was based on the US sitcom ‘Who’s the Boss?’, or 70s comedy ‘The Fosters’, based on US series ‘Good Times’, but they are few and far between. There have been some high-profile successes going the other way, most notably the US versions of ‘The Office’ and ‘Ghosts’, but there are also a huge number of failures as well.
“The British pub is an endangered species, so there’s an answer for the ‘Why now?’ about it,” commented Allen. “The attitudes of Cheers in the ‘80s are very different to the attitudes of today, so there’s a massive amount of work to be done around taking inspiration from the original characters but creating something fresh.”
So whilst, as Allen acknowledges, adapting something like ‘Cheers’ into a UK version is challenging, the basic premise – i.e. A sitcom, set in a stuggling pub, based around the eccentric staff and an eclectic collection of regulars – does feel like it should be workable. Plus, with someone like Simon Nye returning to his ‘Men Behaving Badly’ roots of straight-up British sitcom, it’s possible they may just manage to pull it off… We shall have to wait and see!
The UK version of ‘Cheers’ is very much “in development”, but we’ll let you know if/when we hear more!
