British exports

And very good it is too, interweaving the stories of three families living in the same house in the Sixties, Eighties and the present day – all haunted by the spirit of a young girl who died in mysterious circumstances.

Stephen Greenhorn has written the five-parter starring Alex Kingston, Jodie Whittaker and Anne Reid, but the project has its origins in the US. The makers found the idea in a pilot programme made for American television which was never shown or picked up by the networks.

That was for a returning series, but Marchlands – previously known by its US title of The Oaks – is a single series although executive producer Kate Lewis believes it could be developed into a franchise with a different house and a different set of stories each time.

Marchlands begins on ITV1 early next month by which time the American versions of three British series will be on screen on the other side of the Atlantic.

Shameless, Being Human and Skins are the latest British hit shows to be remade by and for Americans.

Ironically, BBC2’s new sitcom Episodes charts the not always happy experiences of a pair of British writers (played by Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) taking their hit show to the US. Fact and fiction, it seems, aren’t that far apart.

Shameless has returned to C4 with a massive 22- episode series – just as the US version is launched on pay cable network Showtime. In a coals-to-Newcastle movie, the US version of Shameless has been bought for screening over here on the More4 channel.

Shameless USA stars William H Macy in the David Threlfall role of Gallagher family patriarch Frank, with the action set in Chicago as the family struggle to make ends meet in the recession.

Creator Paul Abbot has collaborated on the US version with writer-producer John Wells, whose credits include The West Wing and ER.

Teen drama Skins is a perfect match for MTV, the channel on which the US version will be screened.

The British version returns, with a new cast, next week.

Being Human is back on BBC3 tomorrow with more adventures of the ghost, the vampire and the werewolf who share a house.

In the US version, the original trio of Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey and Lenora Crichlow have been replaced by American actors (Sam Huntington, Sam Witwer and Meaghan Rath – no doubt hoping it will raise their profile as the British series did the original cast). On a quirky note, the vampire, called Mitchell in the BBC version, becomes Aidan in the US – an homage, perhaps, to the Irish actor who plays him over here.

How successful the US transfers prove has yet to be shown. Some British series don’t last long when remade. Life On Mars struggled on for just one series. Blackpool remake Viva Laughlin, starring Hugh Jackman, was dropped after a couple of episodes. Others have failed to make it past the pilot stages.

Entertainment shows – think American Idol, Dancing With The Stars (the US take on Strictly Come Dancing) and soon-to-be-seen X Factor – tend to have more success. Just ask Simon Cowell.

* Being Human: tomorrow, BBC3, 9pm.

Shameless: Tuesday, C4, 10pm.

Skins: E4, Thursday, 10pm.