Reboots are all the rage these days, and the latest property to get the green light for a new version is a true classic: Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. The 1963 horror film starring Tippi Hedren is set to become a modern TV drama series on the BBC, but Hitchcock fans shouldn’t be too worried about the legacy of the original film being tarnished.
That’s because the new series isn’t *technically* a remake… at least not according to the people making it. Instead of basing their new series on the iconic film, producer Heyday Television will look to the original 1952 novella by Daphne du Maurier for inspiration. That means that instead of focusing on an urban socialite stranded in a small town in California like the film, the series will be set in rural Cornwall, England, and will focus on a farmhand and other townsfolk who become terrorized by swarms of angry birds shortly after World War II.
As sacrilegious as it may sound to reboot The Birds, there are actually a number of adaptations already that have nothing to do with Hitchcock. Du Maurier’s story has been adapted to radio numerous times dating back to the 1950s, and there was even a television adaptation in 1955 as an installment in the series Danger. The new series’ pilot is being penned by playwright Conor McPherson, who himself has previous experience with the material as well, having written a stage adaptation of the novella that played at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 2009.
We’re willing to give this new Birds adaptation a shot, provided that it features some schoolchildren being tormented by angry crows.
