Michelle Ryan is The Bionic Woman!!

[Milky Tears]

It's been widely reported that the manly shoulders of former Walford chin Michelle Ryan have been cast in a Bionic Woman remake:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...012010,00.html

EastEnders star goes bionic
John Plunkett
Tuesday February 13, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk

Former EastEnder Michelle Ryan will play the Bionic Woman in a US remake of the 70s TV series.

According to US reports, Ryan, who played Zoe Slater in more than 200 episodes of the BBC1 soap, has beaten a number of bigger-name Hollywood actors to the role.

A spin-off from The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman originally starred Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers, a tennis player who is rebuilt after she is nearly killed in a skydiving accident.

Armed with amplified hearing, bionic legs, and a greatly strengthened right arm, she becomes an agent for the Office of Scientific Investigations.

The original series ran for two seasons, first on ABC and then on NBC, where it finished in 1978. The remake is being made by NBC.

Before starring in EastEnders, Ryan appeared in The Worst Witch and The Bill spin-off, Burnside. She will also appear in BBC1's Jekyll, starring James Nesbitt, and will star as Maria Bertram in ITV's upcoming Jane Austen adaptation Mansfield Park, with Billie Piper.

Variety said: "NBC considered some better-known actresses, but ultimately went with someone who'll be a newcomer to most American viewers."

The Bionic Woman first appeared in a guest appearance in a one-off episode of the Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors.

The pair were reunited in three made-for-TV films in the 80s and early 90s - including The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, and Bionic Ever After?

Piper and Ryan in the same show!! That Mansfield Park sounds like it'll be a right w*nkathon.


Also reported on BBC News:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6357649.stm


Wanye will be happy!

[Larry]

was never to keen on the original bionic man/woman series so it's certainly not some thing i'll be making much of an effort to watch..

[Captain Tancredi]

Piper and Ryan in the same show!! That Mansfield Park sounds like it'll be a right w*nkathon.

I think we're missing something about the point of Jane Austen here...although having said that, if Billie is playing the character I think she is, the double-entendres will be flowing thick and fast.

[WhiteCrow]

A film based on an old TV series - baring the Brady Bunch, have any actually been any good?

[Milky Tears]

Baring The Brady Bunch sounds as if it would be well worth a look.

[Mark]

A film based on an old TV series - baring the Brady Bunch, have any actually been any good?

It's being made by NBC. Which suggests a TV series rather than a movie.

I seriously doubt they'd stick an unknown (by American standards) actress in a major feature film.

[Si Hunt]

Well at least if she's in this, she can't be doing Who. I'm not a fan.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

I think we're missing something about the point of Jane Austen here...although having said that, if Billie is playing the character I think she is, the double-entendres will be flowing thick and fast.

That's not all that will be flowing thick & fast!

[Larry]

A film based on an old TV series - baring the Brady Bunch, have any actually been any good?

well the film version of Dad's Army, wasn't that bad..

[Milky Tears]

Some "official pics" have appeared on this site (as spotted on Digital Spy and then OG)


First look/two minute pilot preview on Access Hollywood site as well:

http://video.accesshollywood.com/player/?id=102461

[Logo Polish]

She looks rather like Gina McKee in a couple of those photos...

[Wayne]

I wonder if Steve Austin will approve?

[Si Hunt]

More like Maria McKee.

Si.

[P-Bal]

She was lost on the day she was born.

[Milky Tears]

Reports that it has been picked up for a series and there's a big spoilery anal geek review of the pilot over at the aintitcool and awesome site:

REVIEW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS!
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32607

Neat.

[Paul Monk]

I can't decide from that clip whether it looks good or the worst programme ever!

[Ralph]

I wonder if Steve Austin will approve?

I think it's had it's day to be honest

Great stuff when you're a kid and it had novelty value at first but somewhat overdone.

[Milky Tears]

The Sun are about two days late with the pics/story...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2...211017,00.html

[Milky Tears]

Big ratings for its US debut:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7017760.stm

US success as Bionic Woman debuts

Michelle Ryan was given training in speech and self-defence for the role
A remake of 1970s TV series The Bionic Woman, starring former UK soap actress Michelle Ryan, has made its US debut with 13.9 million viewers.

The show had a bigger audience than any other programme in its timeslot, and proved NBC's biggest midweek premiere since The West Wing began in 1999.

Ryan, who played Zoe Slater in EastEnders until 2005, beat off other Hollywood competition to land the role.

The original Bionic Woman was played by Emmy-winning actress Lindsay Wagner.

Wagner's character was a former tennis professional who was rebuilt using hi-tech body parts after a skydiving accident.

Producers of the new version have stressed that while the characters played by Wagner and Ryan share a name - Jaime Sommers - the similarities end there.

Ryan's character is a struggling barmaid who was also a surrogate mother to her sister's child.

After a car accident, her body was rebuilt with top-secret technology, making her indebted to the facility that "repaired" her.

US critics looked favourably on Ryan's performance, with the Hollywood Reporter praising her for playing Sommers "as more conflicted and vulnerable than did her predecessor".

"As our new heroine, Ryan has the stuff to make it work even better than the first time round," its critic wrote.

'Formidable'

Variety magazine described the actress as "an appealing presence".

"Inevitably, there's plenty of time devoted to developing her character in this origin story, with a few glimpses of what it looks like when Jaime unleashes her bionic stuff," it said.

Ryan's character is "a more sober, less sunny and more formidable presence" than Wagner's, according to the Washington Post.

"Ryan's flinty pluck and plenty of fancy footwork, however, may help the new Bionic Woman win over as many hearts and minds as the old one did - even if the new one does it the hard way," it said.

The show's executive producer is David Eick, who was responsible for the recent "reimagination" of classic sci-fi hit Battlestar Galactica.

Bionic Woman is due to be shown in the UK early next year on digital channel ITV2.

[Dirk Gently]

I've just watched the US trailer, I might have to check this out.

[Perry Vale]

Anyone been watching this on ITV2? I enjoyed the first two episodes, but this week's had far too much badly written dialogue.

[enzo1701]

Shame it's crashed and burned in the States. This and Journeyman (which was the better series).

[Perry Vale]

Shame it's crashed and burned in the States.

A final decision about a second series is being made in May, from what I've read.

[enzo1701]

Sadly I doubt it. NBC have already announced what will be returning in the "fall" and neither Bionic Woman or Journeyman are on the list of renewals. NBC have however renewed Heroes, Chuck and Pushing Daisies.

[MacNimon]

The first few episodes of The Bionic Woman were good, but it soon fell away. Journeyman, though...now that's a series I'd loved to have seen get a second season.