Never Better and Roman's Empire to head Stateside

A pair of BBC Two sitcoms, Never Better and Roman's Empire, are being remade by American broadcaster ABC.

Never Better originally starred Stephen Mangan as Keith Merchant, a recovering alcoholic trying to be a good husband and father. The sitcom attracted poor ratings in Britain, averaging less than 1 million viewers per episode over the course of its January - February 2008 series.

Roman's Empire originally starred Neil Dudgeon as Roman Pretty, a self-made millionaire and family man. Any man who attempted to date his daughters became a pawn in his empire. The series, which also starred Matthew Horne, Chris O'Dowd and Nicholas Burns, split opinion with some thinking it was unique and witty, whilst others thought it was a rip-off of American sitcom Arrested Development.

Dave Walpert, who wrote 2007 American comedy Miss Guided (a single-camera sitcom centered around a woman who returned to her high school to become a guidance counselor) is to oversee writing on the American version of Never Better.

Meanwhile Roman's Empire is to be adapted for ABC by Malcolm in the Middle writer Al Higgins. With the working title Laffer, the new series will be a joint production between original producers Tiger Aspect and American companies Katalyst and CBS Paramount Network TV.

These comedies are the latest in a string of British series currently being adapted for American audiences. Other British sitcoms currently being re-made in the US include Gavin and Stacey, Outnumbered and (controversially) Spaced.

It has also been reported that the American version of The Office (shown on ITV2 here) is to launch a spin-off version in February 2009, whilst new series of My Name is Earl (Channel 4) and 30 Rock (Five) are to be made, but Scrubs (E4) will not be re-commissioned.