Even before the pilot episode of future-cop show Phoo Action aired, network heads at the BBC have decided to make the show into a six episode series. Action is about a bad-ass kung fu cop who teams up with a surly teenage girl to fight the criminal Freebies Gang. Adapted from Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett's 1990s strip Get The Freebies, the show will have its full mini-season later this year.

Rumor has it the BBC's decision was based as much based on contractual obligations and deadlines than anything else. The pilot's ratings were almost a third lower than usual for its timeslot on the same channel (Network spokespeople point out that show was simulcast online, which may account for the lower TV audience). Nonetheless, the announcement should please those who seemed to think that the trailer showed some promise. Now all we need to do is get BBC America to show this instead of more reruns of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. [Digital Spy.co.uk]

9:20 AM on Fri Feb 15 2008
By Graeme McMillan
2,189 views
25 comments

Comments

92BuickLeSabre at 09:25 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 558

Second photo = my new wallpaper.
zerofritz at 09:32 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

anybody who drives a Stratos is okay on my book.
steeple at 09:35 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

they looked great, especially the freebies, but the direction was really baggy and stagey. Jaime's stuff deserves to be edited like "hot fuzz" -snappy and beautifully timed
Git Em SteveDave has a... at 09:36 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 177

Speed Racer and Kill Bill had a child.
Git Em SteveDave has a... at 09:37 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 177

Hey, lay off BBC America. My Saturdays ar emuch more enjoyable thanks to FIOS and BBC America giving me a day of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Top Gear
Rybanis at 09:39 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

@Git Em SteveDave: ...and lo, it was good.
Plague at 09:39 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

How can this possibly go wrong?
Frozen-Tex at 09:40 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

@Git Em SteveDave: "Enter The Dragon" meets Kato.
catdogpigduck at 10:08 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

the world is not ready for this level of awesome yet.
aspiringexpatriate at 10:12 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 167

@Git Em SteveDave: And she was Ray Winstone's hot daughter.

@steeple: Jessica Hynes (aka Stevens from Spaced) is one of the writers credited on IMDB for the series.

I watched the pilot last night, twice...

And it was good.

Completely absurd, but good.
Git Em SteveDave has a... at 10:33 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 177

@Rybanis: True. It helps I have a thing for banded socks too....
Rybanis at 11:00 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

@Git Em SteveDave: Thats good. It so happens that I have a thing for Kato masks.
aspiringexpatriate at 11:09 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 167

@Git Em SteveDave: I gotta say, I kinda detested hotpants until this show. Then again, this show can make wedgies funny, it can do anything.
SundaySunday at 11:18 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

Not since they showed Wire in the Blood have I longed for a series to be shown on BBC America. I need to see more Stratos action right away!
Git Em SteveDave has a... at 11:31 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 177

@aspiringexpatriate: But the pants match the socks.
mitchel_stevens at 11:39 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 87

i will take the girl. the rest of you may have Kato-meets-TheBride.
harumph at 11:45 AM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

again, major props for a lancia.
Git Em SteveDave has a... at 12:19 PM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 177

@mitchel_stevens: Hey, she's mine. A girl in banded socks, hotpants, and can kick my ass five ways to Sunday is my dream girl.
deckard97 at 12:59 PM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

yes, even more props on the Lancia.
bitgod at 11:31 PM on 02/15/08
Reply by Email
*

I shoulda have taken some drugs when I watched that. Still, the Batman poster in Whitey's bedroom make me think this is basically Batman the TV series, 40-years in the future.
aspiringexpatriate at 03:35 AM on 02/16/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 167

@bitgod: Yeah, the creators said as much. I mostly noticed the Bowie poster though, 70s era, which I thought was cool to have in 2012.
steven522 at 05:10 AM on 02/16/08
Reply by Email
*

nuNchucks
nuNchucks
nuNchucks

NumChuck is the boring new show on NBC about a computer service guy that puts you to sleep.
AmishJohn at 09:53 AM on 02/16/08
Reply by Email
*

@steven522: Besides, those aren't nunchucks... no chain. Those look like Escrima batons.
aspiringexpatriate at 09:19 PM on 02/16/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 167

@AmishJohn: They're a flag pole sliced in thirds, he uses two as beat-sticks/truncheons/sheleleighs.
MrLister at 05:03 PM on 02/18/08
Reply by Email
*

It were good, I liked it! Jaime Winstone looks exactly like one of Hewlett's drawings. Hope it'll get a little more money for the series though, but they made an admirable effort.