Bergerac reboot 'still in the works'

Thursday 21 October 2021

Bergerac fans have been reassured that a reboot is still on the way despite being held up by the pandemic, as the much-loved Jersey detective show celebrates its 40th anniversary this week.

News of an updated version of the popular island drama was first announced in February 2019.

Jersey-based Westward Studios is leading the production efforts on the project with Banijay/Endemol and Black Light Productions also involved.

While there have been no updates on the revival for more than two years, Westward's CEO and Executive Producer, Brian Constantine, who recently appeared in the Real Housewives of Jersey, assured the development of the show was still underway.

He said not a lot of detail could be shared about the project at the current time, as the team is awaiting an official green light to say “this is definitely going to happen and it will be on this channel”.

Pictured: Brian Constantine, CEO of Westward Studios and Executive Producer for the Bergerac reboot.

“It is still in the development stage with a very good team,” Mr Constantine said. “There is so much hard work going on behind the scenes.

“What slowed us down is the pandemic and the massive impact it has had on the industry, but we are very happy that this hasn’t gone completely off the radar, it’s been picked up and carried on." 

Mr Constantine said the team was hoping to make an announcement “very soon”, possibly towards the end of this year. “There’s various factors that can affect the timings,” he added.

While John Nettles has previously ruled himself out from reprising his role as the Bureau des Étrangers' Jim Bergerac, Mr Constantine hinted during a BBC Breakfast appearance on Tuesday that "very big names" had come forward to replace him.

To mark 40 years since the crime drama's premiere, Jersey Post released a set of eight stamps earlier this week.

Pictured: The special edition Bergerac stamps released this week by Jersey Post.

The stamps are also available as part of a Stamps Prestige Booklet incorporating two sets of stamps and additional information about the series.

Produced by the BBC in association with the Australian Seven Network, Bergerac originally ran from 18 October 1981 to 26 December 1991.

Created by Robert Banks Stewart, the series starred John Nettles, OBE, and centred around the titular detective, Jim Bergerac, who starts out as detective sergeant in Le Bureau des Étrangers, a fictional department in the States of Jersey Police dealing with non-Jersey residents, and later becomes a private investigator.

Episodes followed Bergerac as he tackled cases ranging from catching jewel thieves to thwarting smugglers and even solving murders.

Pictured: One of the tourism campaigns John Nettles fronted as Bergerac. (Jersey Tourism/Wiki)

Bergerac showcased the local and the first series resulted in an increase in visitors to the island, as people came to see the show’s main filming locations.

Many of those can still be found today, including Jim Bergerac’s flat, which was located just a few doors down from the Sommerville Hotel above St. Aubin and perhaps most famously, the Old Court House pub in St. Aubin itself, which featured as ‘The Royal Barge’.