Stella Street, the offbeat BBC TV comedy that relocated an eclectic mix of Hollywood and rock stars to a London suburb, is to return as an online show.
The cult favourite, which features Phil Cornwell and John Sessions doing multiple impressions, will be distributed at the internet protocol television (IPTV) website Log.tv. The new material is expected to appear early in the new year.
Cornwell, Sessions and director Peter Richardson are now working on ideas for new episodes, four years after last working together on the last Stella Street TV show.
The comedy ran for four series on BBC2 from 1997, showing in 10-minute instalments. Its final outing was a feature-length film in 2004.
Stella Street charted the adventures of stars such as Michael Caine, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino - all played by Sessions and Cornwell - who had moved to a leafy street in Surbiton.
Richardson said he and the other writers had decided to abandon the conventional TV route for the show's revival.
"We had breakfast at John Sessions' apartment and spent an hour and half talking to camera about the Stella Street history to date ... until the tape ran out," he added.
"That meeting inspired us to start thinking of some new ideas, perhaps Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan could be involved to make new episodes fresh and funny. We are working on it now. With Log.tv we don't have to worry about the constraints of the terrestrial broadcaster.
"The whole packaging process with TV can take years. Now, we can make quick decisions for ourselves and make it. We can use young undiscovered attractive talent which brings an energy to the project I could never get from TV productions."
Log.tv went live two months ago and describes itself as "a talent broadcasting network and distribution platform", which encourages users to upload content and collaborates with talent to produce "high-end, quality entertainment shows" that can be shown using IPTV.
The website does not charge for content and hopes to fund itself through advertising.
"Unlike other sites out there operating within the IPTV area, Log.tv has invested as much time in generating quality broadcast technology as it has in looking at how best to create quality, exclusive new programming," said the site's founder, Paul Berrow.
"This means that we will operate on a more sophisticated level both creatively and technologically and will only work with people who are best in class in both areas."
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