Harvey Keitel is taking on his first regular TV role, replacing Colm Meaney as Gene Hunt in the US version of the BBC hit Life on Mars.

Keitel will head up the 1970s New York Police Department section, accompanied by Michael Imperioli as Ray Carling and Jonathan Murphy as newcomer Chris Skelton. Jason O'Mara will play Sam Tyler, as he did in David E. Kelley's original pilot, set in Los Angeles.

The show's new producers, Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg, recently revealed that they have gained permission from Kudos Films and the BBC to expand Sam Tyler's mythology, so his options are not confined to being "mad, in a coma or back in time" as they were in the original show.

Life on Mars starts shooting on August 5th in New York for Thursday night broadcasts on ABC later in the year.