Discarded script - but what of the show?
Proposals for a new TV drama series about a fictional British sportscar company appear to be under development by BBC Norfolk. PH can exclusively reveal (unsurprisingly perhaps, given the station's location), that the project also appears to have been inspired by Lotus Cars.
Evidence of the proposed serial's existence comes from an official document apparently discarded after a pre-production meeting for a pilot episode. Marked 'Confidential', it offers details of a show called The Lotus Position, and the single page we've seen includes a few lines from the script.
The document doesn't mention Lotus Cars itself (apart from the programme name which we assume to be a 'working title'), but the proposed show does centre around a specialist English sportscar maker, and the first storyline appears to address some of the challenges faced by a new management team 'parachuted in' as part of an attempt to transform the business.
In spite of its importance to the British economy and culture, our national car industry has been largely overlooked by TV entertainment providers. When BMW met Rover was popular in the 1990s, but although the theme of The Lotus Position appears similar, it is clearly a fictional drama whereas the earlier BBC show was a 'fly on the wall' type documentary.
Fast forward to 2011, and we're guessing it won't just be Lotus fans who'll be hoping this new show makes it to the small screen - motoring enthusiasts of all persuasions have notoriously been starved of quality content by the BBC.
You can download a copy of the document we've seen here (thanks to Norwich-based PHer TVRnip who alerted us to its existence), and naturally we'd love to hear from other PHers with any information about this intriguing project. (Email news@pistonheads.com)
Below: Could these images have helped to inspire the proposed show? They're the real Lotus executives as pictured on the official company website.
Dany Bahar |
Donato Coco |
Gino Rosato |
Claudio Berro |
Stephan Pathenschneider |
Michael Och |
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Erik Ruge |
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