8 TV shows that returned after a long gap
Next month, Will & Grace makes its much-hyped return to American television, 11 years after it bid a supposedly final farewell. But it ain't the only TV show to bounce back after a long hiatus.
Here are eight other series that proved to their fans that patience is a virtue... but did they have the same old magic?
1. Doctor Who - 7 years (or 16 years)
Before: Although the BBC had tried to snuff Doctor Who out in 1985, tabloid outrage gave it a four-year stay of execution. So when they finally swung the axe, they were much smarter about it, telling fans that it was farming the series out to the indie sector.
Except there didn't seem much urgency on the Beeb's part and it was to be seven years until the show blinked back into existence, this time as a TV movie co-production between the BBC and America's FOX network. Sadly (or not), plans for a series were swiftly scuppered by dismal Stateside viewing figures.
After: With Russell T Davies making no secret of his love of the show and a new regime in charge, the BBC of the early Noughties was a helluva lot more receptive to the idea of new Doctor Who than it had been 10 years before. Deciding against a hard reboot, RTD's version was faster, sexier and funnier, but still recognisably the same programme that signed off in 1989.
2. The X-Files - 14 years
Before: The X-Files was the jewel in FOX's crown when it bestrode the channel in the 1990s. But the shine eventually wore off, for viewers and indeed for its stars, with David Duchovny jumping ship towards the end of its original 9-season run and Gillian Anderson reining in her day-to-day involvement.
Replacement FBI agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) failed to generate the same kind of fan love and the series was finally canned in 2002.
After: Despite the tepid response to stopgap movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe in 2008, FOX were still hungry to get The X-Files back on TV. In 2016 it returned for an 'event series' of six brand new episodes, with much of the same creative talent involved and most of the main cast back in their old positions.
With a satisfying mix of standalone episodes and arc instalments, it was a ratings smash, enough for FOX to chase creator Chris Carter for even more episodes, with season 11 due to air in 2018.
3. Porridge - 39 years
Before: There were three series and 22 episodes of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais's sitcom classic about a wily jailbird, Fletch (Ronnie Barker), and his wide-eyed cellmate, Godber (Richard Beckinsale). A short-lived sequel series, Going Straight, followed and then a 1980 feature film, but the death of Beckinsale shortly after filming sadly nixed any more helpings of Porridge.
After: The idea of a Porridge without the comic brilliance of Ronnie Barker would have once been unthinkable, but returning writers Clement and La Frenais struck gold with Kevin Bishop, who plays Fletch's cyber-criminal grandson (also called Fletch).
Porridge's return in 2016 was originally intended as a one-off, to help mark 60 years of the British sitcom, but impressive ratings (4.4 million tuned in) helped persuade the BBC to commission a full series.
4. Open All Hours/Still Open All Hours - 28 years
Before: Ronnie Barker's other great sitcom ran for four much-repeated series between 1973 and 1985. Although aided and abetted by David Jason's sweetly innocent Granville and a host of eccentric regulars, it was Barker's stammering Albert E. Arkwright that dominated, a comic creation every bit as memorable as Norman Stanley Fletcher.
After: Reborn as Still Open All Hours in 2013 - and with the same writer, Roy Clarke, still penning the gags - this 28-years-later revival promoted David Jason to lead, and brought back many of the shop regulars from the old series.
Despite being battered by critics, this new iteration of Open All Hours has proved a ratings juggernaut for the BBC. Seems it ain't going nowhere.
5. Twin Peaks - 26 years
Before: Back in 1990, the genre-bending Twin Peaks was the Game of Thrones of its day, with the entire TV-watching world, it seemed, asking the question, "WHO killed Laura Palmer?!"
It didn't last long though – once Laura's killer was revealed, the series haemorrhaged viewers. Despite finding its mojo again in its final episodes, ABC pulled the plug in 1991.
After: "I'll see you again in 25 years," said Laura Palmer to Special Agent Dale Cooper in the final episode of the second season. That line was enough to kickstart the imaginations of its creators Mark Frost and David Lynch into possibly returning to their most famous creation.
But anyone who expected a cosy trip down memory lane was to be severely crushed. Season 3 of Twin Peaks is almost an exercise in anti-nostalgia, going out of its way, it seems, to not give viewers what they want. Colder, weirder and more diffuse that the previous two seasons, it is, as Showtime boss David Nevins promised, "the pure heroin version of David Lynch."
6. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - 17 years
Before: A rare comedy bullseye for ITV (although, technically, it was more of a comedy-drama), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet told the story of a gang of British construction workers who, in the first series at least, are forced to travel to Germany after failing to find work at home.
Clement and La Frenais's series made stars out of Jimmy Nail, Kevin Whately and Timothy Spall, but suffered a critical blow halfway through the filming of its second season when Gary Holton, who played babe-chaser Wayne, died of a drugs overdose.
After: After 17 years and a channel swap, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet returned, now on BBC One, with everyone back in place, and with Noel Clarke filling in for Wayne as his son Wyman. A better-looking programme than its old incarnation, it managed two series and a feature-length finale before bowing out, this time because of another cast death - that of wrestler-turned-actor Pat Roach.
7. Cold Feet - 13 years
Before: One of ITV's signature shows of the late '90s and early '00s, Cold Feet was about as middle-class a programme can get without a Waitrose sponsorship. Following the interconnecting love lives of a bunch of affluent thirty-somethings, it lasted five, ratings-busting series until creator Mike Bullen called it quits.
After: Despite being one cast member down (Helen Baxendale's Rachel Bradley had been car-crashed off at the end of series five), the gang returned, wrinklier, but not noticeably wiser in 2016.
Happily, the chemistry was just as robust as it was before, and Bullen's scripts felt fresh for exploring new, more middle-aged problems. It was still the Cold Feet we recognised, but it never felt as if it was rehashing old ideas. Series 7 is due next month.
8. The Liver Birds - 17 years
Before: The BBC's female-fronted answer to The Likely Lads was one of their most beloved sitcoms through the 1970s. Starring Nerys Hughes and Polly James (later Elizabeth Estensen) as a couple of young, free and single Scouser lasses, it was shockingly progressive for its time and remains writer Carla Lane's greatest sitcom triumph.
After: When Polly James's Beryl exited the show, she was replaced by a new character, Carol Boswell, played by Elizabeth Estensen. Boswell arrived with her family in tow, including her rabbit-loving brother Lucien (Michael Angelis).
But when the series returned in 1996, in a major bit of retconning, Lucian was now Beryl's brother, with Carol seemingly written out of the show's history. Sadly for Carla Lane, the new Liver Birds failed to match its '70s popularity and so was canned after only one series.
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