Apparently there was a crime action show in the U.S. in the 1980’s known as The Equalizer that starred The Wicker Man’s Edward Woodward. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it, but it’s about to get the remake treatment.

Variety are reporting that popular crime novelists Michael Connelly and Terrill Lee Lankford will be penning the script, with Lucky Number Slevin director Paul McGuigan at the helm.

The original series ran for four years in the late 80’s and each episode followed former CIA agent Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) who offers his services as a personal investigator (often crossing the line) for free to anyone so he can atone his sins of the past.

No cast has been annouced as of yet, but Connelly said of his adaptation “times have certainly changed since the days of the television show“. In terms of the main character they plan “to build a character that is of these times but to also keep the heart and soul of the show intact“.

You know what bugs me sometimes about these remakes of old tv shows? The fact that when they finally get around to being released in the cinema, they are nothing like what the show use to be. Miami Vice, The Dukes of Hazzard and Starsky and Hutch are nothing like their source material, so what was the point in using the show’s name?

To sell theatre tickets is the obvious answer of course, but who’s ever heard of The Equalizer anyway?

source - variety, coming soon