Kumars head for the US in £6m TV deal
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The BBC comedy, The Kumars at No 42, has been sold to the United States, where the Anglo-Asian characters will be replaced by Mexicans.
The television network NBC has paid £6m to copy the formula and title of the Bafta-nominated spoof chat show devised by its host, the actor Sanjeev Bhaskar.
Even the setting for the show has been changed: instead of a mocked-up terrace home in Wembley, north London, guests will be invited to a Los Angeles warehouse.
Jimmy Mulville, the joint managing director of the UK production company Hat Trick, which is to co-produce the show for NBC, said: "We needed to identify the most successful immigrant population in the States. African-Americans are already well assimilated and we needed a socially mobile family. There are 25 million Hispanics in the States so we settled on Mexican-Americans."
Scenes will be filmed in Spanish and Hat Trick, which makes the original BBC2 version of the show, hopes to sell the series to Hispanic stations. There are also plans to sell the series to Germany and replace the Kumars with a Turkish family because of the large number of Turkish immigrants to Germany.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments