V creator explains why he agreed to Big Finish remake after "terrible" Bionic Woman TV adaptation

Now, Big Finish – best known for their Doctor Who range of releases – are adapting V as an audio drama, transplanting the original story from the United States to the United Kingdom.

Set in present-day London, V: UK will present an alternative retelling of the original story, which sees Earth occupied by alien Visitors, spurring some humans to collaborate with the invaders and a band of freedom fighters to declare war on the oppressive regime.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, V creator Johnson explained why he was keen to revisit his alien invasion story – and how it'll avoid the pitfalls of unsuccessful reboots.

"I have not really licensed anybody else to do anything with V, because I've been concerned that they would botch it up," he explained. "I've seen that happen a lot when people try to 'reimagine' my work – that's a dangerous word."

Johnson also created The Bionic Woman (1976-78), a spin-off from the earlier Six Million Dollar Man television series, and cited the "really terrible" 2007 remake of that show as an example of what happens when the creative team involved don't gel with the original.

"It didn’t work, because they'd missed the point. They didn't know what the show was about. It had no heart, it had no humanity, it had no humour and it didn’t have [original series star] Lindsay Wagner, for sure.

"Lindsay was so special as an actress, it was impossible [to replicate that]."

Johnson has similar feelings about Ang Lee's 2003 film Hulk, which, although primarily based on the Marvel comic, did take some inspiration from the the 1970s small-screen adaptation starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno which was developed for TV by Johnson.

"I love Ang Lee, he's a brilliant director but [...] it just didn't work and the audience knew it."

Having had his fingers burnt by a number of bad experiences, Johnson was always wary when approached about the possibility of reviving V. "A few years ago, I realised that I still owned the motion picture rights to V, and when the word got around a lot of studios. Suddenly I had a lot of new best friends – this happens in Hollywood….

"They'd say, 'We're thinking maybe somebody like Michael Bay to direct it’ and I'd say, 'No, I don't think so!', because by then I had seen people try to reimagine my work and really miss the point of the whole thing. The style and the quality more than anything was what I was trying to protect."

Johnson collaborated with Big Finish regular Jonathan Morris on the scripts for V: UK, commending the writer for being "remarkably respectful" throughout the adaptation process and helping to assuage his doubts that V could be too visual a franchise to work as an audio drama.

"We've managed to capture, I think, a lot of the essence of what I was endeavouring to do. He has brought a lot of new ideas of his own into it – and I've also shared with him the feature [film] script that we are trying to get made now, which has new changes in it."

The end product is something that Johnson is convinced has sidestepped the dangers inherent in revamped a beloved classic property. In fact, working on V: UK reignited a memory of his watching an early edit of the 1983 miniseries – before visual effects, sound or music had been added – and being gripped by the raw footage...

"It was so powerful because every single one of the actors was on their game," he said. "I just sat there going, 'Wow, the cake is baked.... everything else we do – visual effects, music, sound effects – it's all just frosting, but the cake is baked because the actors' performances were so solid.'

"The basic essence of V is the interplay of characters and their emotions, so what really makes V successful is that byplay between the actors."

V: UK – Visitation – the first boxset in the series – is available now from Big Finish.

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