Only Fools and Horses set for US remake

Classic BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses is to be remade for a US audience.

The ABC network plans to make a US pilot episode of the British comedy, which ran from 1981 to 2003 and starred David Jason (pictured) as wheeler-dealer Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his dopey brother Rodney.

The script will be written by Scrubs writers Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley, according to BBC Online.

ABC said it would follow the same formula of two brothers who "concoct outrageous, morally questionable get-rich-quick schemes in their quest to become millionaires".

It is hoped that the pilot will be picked up for a full series, which will be broadcast in the US later this year.

There have already been many international remakes of the show, which was named the UK's greatest ever sitcom in 2004.

These include Wat Schuift't? in The Netherlands and Brat Bratu in Slovenia, where Del Boy's three-wheel Reliant Robin car became a camper van.

More than 24 million people tuned in for the 1996 Christmas special of Only Fools and Horses, making it one of the most-watched programmes in the history of British TV.

The comedy also spawned two spin-offs - The Green Green Grass and Rock & Chips - before its writer and creator, John Sullivan, died last April aged 64.