ABC greenlights remake of BBC's 'The Syndicate'

The latest UK series to be remade in the US image has been given the greenlight at ABC.

The network has agreed to a pilot for the American remake of the BBC series "The Syndicate" from producers David Zabel ("ER") and Jason Richman ("Detroit 1-8-7") along with Amblin TV and ABC Studios.

The drama series revolves around five supermarket workers who strike it rich when they enter into a syndicate and win the lottery. The remake, written by Zabel and Richman, will be entitled "Lucky 7" and will reportedly follow a similar format to the BBC series in that each episode will revolve around one of each of the winners. However, the setting of the US version will be changed, as it will follow seven employees of a service station in Queens. The original series premiered last year and was recently renewed for a second series.

The new series is one of three drama projects Amblin is developing as part of their deal with ABC. It joins a string of UK shows that are either in pre-production or in the works for US remakes, including "Spy" and "Pulling" at ABC and "Gavin & Stacey" and "Linda Green" at Fox.

I seem to recall NBC already doing a similar series back in 2006 entitled "Windfall," in which a family takes home the lottery prize and endures strife as a result. Hopefully this series will fare somewhat better.