How to Do (or Not to Do) Re-makes

Remakes are a mixed box. Naturally, there's always the risk of creating something worse than the original. At the same time, they offer the chance to add a different perspective which can be awesome.

So, when Fox announced to remake Boradchuch  I was curious of what they'd turn it into. A 23 episodes/season long TV series (something the BBC/ITV cannot even start to imagine)? A zombie apocalypse wild western style in which neighbours are threatening each other with guns? A media-company thriller? More guns? Let's involve the government by making Danny's dad being an important member of the Republican party. Have I mentioned guns? It's a cliche, but the biggest difference between an American and a British crime-series is that the American series always feature an irresponsible amount of guns.

I simply wanted to see Fox taking the story's basic (actually already very American) set-up and turning it into something different. After all,  it's the differences which make a good remake live. 

However, when it became obvious that Chibnall is part of Fox's production team, and what's more, he's writing scripts, my excitement started to fade. Sure, he promises to make things different:

I’m very, very fascinated to see this story in a different landscape with an acting ensemble that’s just as strong but taken from really great American actors. The DNA of the original is absolutely intact and filtered through a new prism, so it should still feel just as vibrant, and interesting, and strange, and unique, and beautiful, but just in a different setting — and then it’s exploring the dramatic opportunities that that offers up. We’re not gonna do the terrible version. We’re gonna do a great version.

But getting him on the team makes the 'out of the box' thinking process a lot more difficult. It's like involving Doyle into BBC's recent adaptation of Sherlock. As Moffat mentioned in an interview, Doyle would probably hate what he and Gatiss have made of his stories. But this does not stop Sherlock from being an immense success.

And some days later, just as if the world would have wanted to prove my point, EW announces that Fox got David Tennant to play the lead. So much for Chibnall's 'great American actors' comment from the quote above. We know the British are great, but it's as if someone over there wasn't understanding the basic idea behind remakes. One clue: getting the same actor doing a different accent is not exactly the way the big successful remakes have started. Well, then again, there's always a first time for everything.