Suburban Shootout, the female-centric sitcom in which the characters are more likely to commit grevious bodily harm than take part in a bake sale, is being adapted for American audiences some 3 years after a previous failed pilot in the country.

The sitcom, which was originally produced by Feelgood Fiction for Five and Paramount Comedy, ran for two series between March 2006 and September 2007; the first of 8 half hours and the second of 3 hour-long episodes.

It focussed on Little Stempington, a seemingly normal village in rural England, but whose female residents were more mafioso than Women's Institute. New resident Joyce Hazeldine (Amelia Bullmore) is more than a little shocked to find that her move with policeman husband Jeremy from the big city reverses their roles - now he's got the calm, stress-free life he was after, but she's caught between two rival gangs of middle-class housewives.

The new hour-long US adaptation of the dark comedy, originally written by Roger Beckett and Gary James Martin, is being penned by Byron Balasco, whose previous credits are firmly in the category of crime drama rather than comedy, for the Disney-owned ABC network. It will feature a woman who escapes her father's city mob world for a quiet, honest life in suburbia, but soon finds she needs her old family skills to get by.

An American pilot for a Suburban Shootout remake was previously made for cable channel HBO in 2008, but was not picked up. It is thought that ABC is looking at Shootout as a potential replacement for its long-running comedy drama Desperate Housewives, which is currently broadcasting its final season.

The new show will be a co-production between Feelgood Fiction and Kapital Entertainment.