Jeremy Brock Revives Monarch Of The Glen in Six-Part Reboot
Jeremy Brock has brought monarch of the glen back to life as a six-part series, with PBS Masterpiece and 5 teaming up on a reimagining of the 2000-2005 Scottish Highlands drama. The new version keeps the estate-in-peril setup but shifts the story to Isla Campbell, a London lawyer who returns home for her father’s funeral.
Susanne Simpson said, “I know the warmth, humor and romance in this new version of Monarch of the Glen is just what our American audience looks for in a Masterpiece series.” She added, “I’m so delighted to bring Jeremy Brock’s excellent work and the beauty of the Highlands to U.S. television screens.”
Jeremy Brock and Stephen Greenhorn
Jeremy Brock wrote and created the series alongside Stephen Greenhorn, after saying, “When I was offered the chance to re-imagine Monarch of the Glen, I leapt at it.” He called the project a way to tell a story about “family life and finding your place in our hectic world” and said the Highlands felt like “exactly the right home” for “hope and joy.”
The reboot is being made by Ecosse Films, the original producer, with Masterpiece PBS in association with Northern Ireland Screen. Banijay Rights is handling international distribution, which gives the series a sales runway before cameras start rolling.
Isla Campbell’s Highland debt
Isla Campbell returns to her family’s crumbling Highland estate after the death of her estranged father, only to find a million-pound debt, a bank closing in, and a brother who will not let go of the ancestral home. That puts the new series on familiar ground, but with a more explicit financial countdown than the original 2000-2005 comedy-drama, which starred Alastair Mackenzie as a young restaurateur trying to restore his childhood home.
The estate fight gives the reboot a cleaner business hook than nostalgia alone. A family property at risk, a debt of that size and a closing bank are the practical stakes driving the story, not just the return of a known title.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Production will take place in Scotland and Northern Ireland later this year, with development assistance from The National Lottery through Screen Scotland. Tom Vaughan is executive producer and director, and Alex Boyd, Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae are the producers, with Rob Darnell and Adam Duncan serving as executive producers for Ecosse and Susanne Simpson as executive producer for Masterpiece.
For viewers, the important part is not just that Monarch of the Glen is returning, but that it is returning with a distribution plan already in place and a story built around succession, debt and a property under pressure. That is the version most likely to travel: a Highland family drama with enough scale for international buyers and enough local texture to keep the reboot from feeling generic.
