Fox adapting ITV comedy “Benidorm” for possible summer run

PanARMENIAN.Net - Fox is ready to go on vacation this summer. The network is teaming with Awkward showrunners Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler to adapt ITV's successful U.K. comedy Benidorm with an eye on a summer run, The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

The Fox take, called The Big Package, is a half-hour single-camera comedy about a blue-collar Boston family on the brink of financial disaster who takes a Mexican vacation they can't afford and seeks escape at a third-rate resort whose bargain "big package" also attracts a handful of other boisterous and crude guests.

The comedy is based on Tiger Aspect Productions' U.K. format Benidorm and hails from Endemol Shine Studios (where Tiger Aspect is based). Alberghini and Chessler — currently showrunners on VH1's Daytime Divas — will pen the script and executive produce the 20th Century Fox TV co-production alongside Wetdog Entertainment's Stephanie Davis, Derren Litten and Ben Cavey, the latter of whom exec produces Benidorm for Tiger Aspect. Litten created Benidorm and serves as the show's lead writer. The critically acclaimed series wrapped its eighth season earlier this year and has already been renewed for a ninth run in 2017. The ensemble comedy has won two National Television Awards and also has been nominated for British Comedy prizes and BAFTAs.

The Big Package — which is in development — comes as Fox continues to eye original scripted comedies in the typically low-rated summer. In April, the network went straight to series on comedy Famous, but after difficulties casting the 10-episode summer series, hit the brakes and put the project back into development where it languished. This past summer, Fox focused on a mix of scripted dramas (including the second season of Wayward Pines, which struggled to match the 2015 success) and unscripted (with its Mark Burnett-produced reality dating series Coupled tanking).

For Alberghini and Chessler, who will serve as showrunners should The Big Package go to series, the project comes on top of VH1's Daytime Divas (formerly Satan's Sisters) starring Vanessa Williams that is set for a 2017 debut. The writing duo's credits include Awkward, 90210, Cashmere Mafia, Whoopi and Reba. They are repped by Paradigm, manager Davis and Felker Toczek.

Fox's The Big Package comes as TBS has found success with Jason Jones comedy The Detour, which follows a family on a road trip gone wrong. HBO next has comedic anthology Room 104 about an American hotel and follows different guests in each episode, while TBS has similarly themed Greg Garcia anthology The Guest Book also exploring the events at a small-town vacation home and its visitors.