FROM BIG SCREEN TO SMALL
MARION McMULLEN TAKES A LOOK AT TV SHOWS INSPIRED BY THE MOVIES
1 Irish actor Andrew Scott stars as anti-hero Tom Ripley in a new eight-part Netflix version of arguably writer’s Patricia Highsmith’s most famous and celebrated work, The Talented Mr Ripley. Matt Damon (pictured below) played Tom in the 1999 movie with a cast that included Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law.
2 The success of director Alan Parker’s 1980 film Fame led to a TV series of the same name, which began in 1982. It followed the fortunes of students and staff of New York City High School for the Performing Arts and won nine Emmy Awards.
3 The Planet of the Apes movies were so popular in the 1960s and 1970s that a TV series landed in 1974. Roddy McDowell put on the chimp costume and make-up once more to play Galen, who befriends two astronauts (played by Ron Harper and James Naughton, pictured with McDowell) trapped in a world ruled by apes. The action took place in 3085.
4 The 1992 film version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer was not a huge blockbuster, but the US TV series with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role became a cult favourite. David Boreanaz as vampire Angel (pictured with Gellar) went on to star in his own spin-off series.
5 Black comedy film What We Do In The Shadows offered a new twist on vampires with a spoof mockumentary in 2014 about the lives of a group of bloodsuckers. It led to BBC series in 2019 with Kayvan Novak (right), Matt Berry and Natasia Demetriou playing the undead.
6 Yul Brynner starred as the cowboy robot who goes on a killing spree in a theme park in the 1973 movie Westworld. The story was adapted for TV by HBO in 2016 with Sir Anthony Hopkins as Dr Robert Ford, the genius behind the robots. Ford warned: “You can’t play God without being acquainted with the devil.”
7 Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film classic Psycho ended up on the small screen in 2013 as Bates Motel starring Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga (pictured right) as Norman Bates and his mum, Norma. The tagline for the first season said “A boy’s best friend is his mother”.
8 British acting star Lena Headey (below) played the protective mum of John Connor (Thomas Dekker) in 2008 TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It followed the success of the Terminator movies and saw mother and son fighting to save the human race and defeat Skynet. More than 300 auditioned for the role of Sarah Connor.
9 The movie M*A*S*H came out in 1970, but the TV series starring Alan Alda as surgeon Captain Benjamin Franklin “HawkEye” Pierce (below) proved even more popular. The medical comedy launched in 1972 and ran for 251 episodes over 11 years.
10 The 2010 animated family film How To Train Your Dragon was followed by DreamWorks TV episodes. Jay Baruchel and America Ferrara returned to voice the Viking dragon riders Hiccup (above with his dragon Toothless) and Astrid in 40 episodes across three series.