ALL BOXED UP
With Blade Runner and Alien heading for the small screen, we take a look at some of the best movie- to-TV spin-offs
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series eclipsed the original 1992 movie in terms of success. Created by Joss Whedon, the hit show ran from 1997 to 2003 and starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, left, as the high school student protecting the world from the forces of evil.
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The
Fargo
TV series, that launched in the UK on
Channel 4, was inspired by the Oscarwinning film of the same name. There have been four seasons of the Midwest-set crime comedy drama so far and stars have included Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Kirsten Dunst (above) Ewan McGregor and Chris Rock. 2
British film-maker Sir
MASH, about a
Ridley Scott is turning
group of army
two of his most famous
medics during the
science-fiction films into
Korean war, was a hugely
live-action TV series. The fourtime
successful spin-off of the Oscar-nominated director
1970 film of the same
confirmed the news this week,
name, which in turn was
saying that he has already
based on the novel by
written the pilot and a plan
Richard Hooker. The
for a 10-episode series of
Emmy awardwinning
dystopian drama Blade Runner. show,
Meanwhile a pilot is in the
starring Alan
process of being written
Alda, left, ran
for Alien, left, which is
for 11 series
sure to have fans chestbursting
from 1972 with excitement.
to 1983.
Bates Motel is a contemporary prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s famous 1960 movie Psycho and follows a young Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) as he unravels during his teenage years.
Vera Farmiga plays his mother Norma.
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US mini series Hannibal is another prequel of sorts, with Mads Mikkelsen taking on the role made famous by Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs. He gives a chilling performance as psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter, right, as we watch his growing relationship with a young FBI criminal profiler haunted by his ability to empathise with serial killers. 3 The Fame seriesTV followed the 1980 hit movie. Set at the fictional New York City High School for the Performing Arts, it followed the trials and tribulations of the students who wanted to be stars and ran for six series between 1982 and 1987.
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Set 34 years after events of the All Valley Karate Tournament, Cobra Kai is a follow-up to the hit Karate Kid movies of the Eighties. It sees Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), inset, face off again after Johnny re-opens the infamous Cobra Kai dojo. The fourth series hits Netflix next month.
Star Wars director and Indiana Jones co-creator George Lucas came up with a prequel spin off series with 1992’s The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. It saw an elderly Indy reminisce about his exploits as a youth – played by
Sean Patrick Flannery, right. Sadly it flopped and was cancelled.
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Heathers, the 1989 black comedy starring Christian Slater, right, and Winona Ryder as a pair of murderous teens who take down the popular girls at school was rebooted for TV in 2018 but was beset by controversy. Episodes had to be edited following a run of school shootings in the US and it has yet to be renewed for another series.