Fox planning US version of "Eastenders"

1.00pm

LOS ANGELES - Fox Broadcasting has ordered six scripts for an American version of the BBC soap "EastEnders."

The project will be shepherded by "American Idol" creator/executive producer Simon Fuller.

"EastEnders" has run in the UK since 1985.

The American version, said to chronicle the lives of blue-collar families in Chicago, hails from Fuller and "EastEnder's" head writer and story consultant Tony Jordan.

Jordan, who has penned about 250 episodes of "EastEnders" in the past 15 years, is writing the scripts and is executive producing the Fox project with Fuller.

- HOLLYWOOD REPORTER