British female-prison drama heads to America

Add one more show to the roster of imports in television's Year of the Remake: HBO is developing the British show "Bad Girls" for its lineup.

"Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball is executive producing the adaptation of the ITV show, which is about female prison inmates. Ball is also behind the upcoming HBO series "True Blood."

Nancy Oliver ("Lars and the Real Girl") and Raelle Tucker ("Supernatural"), both of whom work on "True Blood," will write the pilot, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and exec produce with Ball and Eileen Gallagher, who co-created the original series.

"Bad Girls" aired on ITV from 1999-2006. The show earned some critical praise for its portrayal of the relationships among inmates and between inmates and guards. It also won two viewer-voted National Television Awards for most popular drama during its run.

An American version of the show was previously in the works at FX. After its rights to the show lapsed, HBO and Ball picked them up.

"Bad Girls" joins a host of TV remakes headed to the airwaves in the coming season. The broadcast networks will have a half-dozen reworkings of shows on the air in the fall, ranging from imports like ABC's "Life on Mars" and CBS' "Worst Week" and "Eleventh Hour" to updated versions of American series like NBC's "Knight Rider" and The CW's "90210." At least that many more are still in the pilot stage.