'Time Bandits' TV series in the offing

Time Bandits is heading to the small screen as a new TV series.

Deadline reports that Apple is just about to close a deal on the rights, as a part of its shift into making its own TV content.

Fans of the original will be heartened by the fact that director Terry Gilliam is on board as an executive producer, though it’s a ‘non-writing’ role.

The movie was first unleashed in 1980, in the wake of a glut of sci-fi and fantasy movies.

However, the former Monty Python star’s take on the genre was notably peculiar, ensuring a cult following for decades to come.

The first film in Gilliam’s so-called ‘trilogy of imagination’, which was followed by Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, it centred on 11-year-old Kevin, who joins with a band of charismatic thieves in an adventure across time and space.

It featured a wealth of stars including David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Sean Connery, David Warner, Shelley Duvall, Ian Holm, Jim Broadbent and Ralph Richardson, as well as fellow Pythons Michael Palin and John Cleese.

The movie was also produced by Beatles legend George Harrison, who also anointed it with its closing credits theme, Dream Away.

There’s no word yet on when it might head into production.

Gilliam is currently consumed with the release of his new movie The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, decades in the making, and which has recently been embroiled in a legal battle over its release.

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