Brighton Belles (1993)

The Brighton Belles is a British sitcom and a remake of the American series The Golden Girls. Produced by Humphrey Barclay Productions for Carlton Television, it follows four older women sharing a house in Brighton and stars Sheila Hancock, Wendy Craig, Sheila Gish and Jean Boht. The series originated as a pilot shown on 9 March 1993 as part of Carlton Television's Comedy Playhouse strand. Although the pilot attracted an audience of around 12 million viewers, The Brighton Belles was poorly received and was dropped from ITV's schedule after six episodes. The remaining episodes were broadcast more than a year later, in late-night timeslots in December 1994. Both contemporary reviews and later commentary have frequently cited The Brighton Belles as an example of the difficulties involved in adapting successful American sitcoms for British television, with critics arguing that it adhered too closely to the original scripts.