Hat Trick and Pariah team for 2nd sitcom

Following its deal with Fox for a US version of its chatcom The Kumars, UK-based Hat Trick Productions has once again partnered with LA's Pariah Television to Americanise another of its comedy shows.

Hat Trick's triple Bafta-winning sitcom Father Ted, originally produced for Channel 4, is being groomed to follow in the footsteps of the recent spat of UK scripted shows heading stateside.

Gavin Polone's outfit Pariah has roped Emmy-nominated writer-producer Spike Feresten will adapt the original C4 series, which follows a trio of Catholic priests living on a remote Irish island.

Feresten's Emmy nominations came for NBC's Seinfeld and NBC's Late Night With David Letterman, and CBS' Late Show With David Letterman.

Although no network is yet attached to the Father Ted US project, Pariah is owned by NBC, which originally ordered the US version of Kumars before it switched to Fox. Pariah is making the US version of Kumars, retitled The Ortegas.