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BBC drama Monarch of the Glen being rebooted on Channel 5
Monarch of the Glen is a comedy drama that ran for seven series between 2000 and 2005.
The majority of the Scottish show told the story of young restaurateur Archie MacDonald trying to restore his childhood home in the Scottish Highlands.
Now, the show is rumoured that it is being rebooted on Channel 5, but with a big change.
BBC drama Monarch of the Glen being rebooted on Channel 5
The fresh take on the classic show will see Archie replaced with a female lead character, the Sun reports.
Alastair McKenzie played the lead on the original BBC version, starring in 43 episodes.
The series is loosely based on Sir Compton Mackenzie’s Highland Novels, set in the same location but in the 1930s and 1940s.
The BBC show pulled in more than 8 million at the peak in the first series, with millions watching each one after.
Channel 5 has yet to announce who will star in the revival, but sources told the publisher that it will be an entirely new cast.
The new story is reportedly about London lawyer Isla Campbell, back at her family’s crumbling Highland estate for her estranged father’s funeral.
Expecting to be gone in days, she discovers she has inherited a million-pound debt, a bank closing in, and a brother who refuses to let go of their ancestral home.
Under the same roof for the first time in years, brother and sister will have to find a way to save the struggling estate before time runs out and they lose it for good.
Writer Jeremy Brock has created the reboot, and told the publisher: “When I was offered the chance to re-imagine Monarch of the Glen, I leapt at it.
“I’m hugely excited by the opportunity to tell a story of family life and finding your place in our hectic world – one that celebrates the warmth, humour and eccentricities of a special community, with both optimism and authenticity.
“Hope and joy are a currency in short supply right now, and the Highlands – one of the most magical places on Earth – felt like exactly the right home for them.”
Channel 5 has been contacted for comment.
Other classic UK TV shows that are being brought back
Monarch of the Glen is not the only show that has been reimagined, with fellow Scottish show Balamory having already returned this year.
Also set in Scotland, it first aired 2002, but was cancelled three years later.
The story centres on a fictional small island community off the west coast of Scotland, dealing with community residents and their issues.
The NEW Balamory opening theme! pic.twitter.com/Aw1wSZDtKZ
— wallabywhys (@wallabywhys1) April 20, 2026
The two new series, which will include some of the original characters, will consist of 10 episodes each.
Crime drama series Dalziel and Pascoe, which aired on the BBC from 1996 to 2007, is also being recommissioned for a reboot.
The series starred Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan as Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Detective Inspector Peter Pascoe, but was axed in 2008 after 12 series, mainly due to a fall in viewing figures.
ITV announced that the series is now being rebooted in a collaboration with Britbox.
Other classic shows, however, are winding down, with the Up series, which began back in 1964 with 7 Up, coming to an end.
It followed the lives of ten boys and four girls in England when they were seven years old, and has followed up with them every seven years.
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The beloved ITV documentary series is set to conclude in 2026, 62 years after it first started airing.
ITV said that 70 Up will air later this year, but has not given a broadcast date just yet.
What classic TV series would you like to see brought back and rebooted? Let us know in the comments.
On Wednesday, September 2, it was the Concours judging and private viewings to dominate the agenda for the day.
Twelve Concours classes were held across almost a century of motoring, including The Golden Age of Motoring, 100 Years of Carrrozzeria Touring, La Dolce Vita, 60 Years of the Lamborghini Miura and Passione Ferrari.
Two new classes also made their debut for 2026, Rare Breeds of the Digital Age and Hypercar Heaven, which recognise the growing importance of contemporary performance cars within the international collector market.
Judging will take place across Wednesday and Thursday, with the show field bringing together a 70-strong collection of classics, supercars and hypercars from around the world.
Some of the cars include Aa Maserati 8C 3000, Alfa Romeo Sprint Berlinetta, a one-off Maserati 3500GT Spyder Prototipo by Vignale, a very early Porsche 356 Split Window Coupé, Aston Martin DB3S, Lamborghini Miura P400S, Bizzarrini 5300GT, Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet, Bugatti EB110 Prototype, Aston Martin Valiant Prototype and the extraordinary Bugatti Bolide, one of just 40 produced worldwide.
Helen Pike has decided to step down as Master of Magdalen College School at the end of the 2026/27 academic year, the school in east Oxford announced in March.
MCS is one of the top performing schools in the country, ranking in the top 20 independent secondary schools in The Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2026.
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The new academic year will start next week, with Ms Pike preparing for one more year in charge before she hands over to her successor, who will take over in September 2027.
The first female Master at MCS, Ms Pike guided the board of governors to one of the most significant decisions in the school’s history, to become fully co-educational from 2027.
While there has been a co-educational sixth form at the school for 15 years, the school last month announced it will become fully co-educational over the coming decade.
Ms Pike said earlier: “I love MCS, and it is a perennial privilege to lead this remarkable school.
“Being Master of MCS is a brilliant job, and I am declaring my intention early in order to give MCS the very best opportunity to find the right Master for September 2027. I shall continue to do all in my power to further the fortunes of this wonderful school until then.
“I look forward to a new phase in my own professional life, one that builds on all that I have enjoyed and achieved in my career during the past 30 years.
“Having encouraged many cohorts of pupils to take sensible risks and to do something creative and different when the time feels right, I am doing just that.”
During Ms Pike’s tenure, MCS has been recognised as a Top 20 Independent School and South East School of the Year by the Sunday Times and won Independent School of the Year for Social Mobility.
Thanking her in his letter to the school community, chair of governors, Bob Price, said earlier this year: “Helen is an outstanding leader and will go with our sincere gratitude and warm thanks for her exceptional headship.
“She will leave the school in excellent shape for her successor.”
Recruitment for a replacement for Ms Pike is now under way.
Last month, Ms Pike congratulated pupils on their “outstanding success” in this year’s A-Level exams, after more than a quarter of pupils (43) achieved three A*s or more and 25 secured all A*s.
In total, 39 pupils from the 2026 cohort are heading to Oxbridge, while 22 have secured places to study medicine.
As part of the school’s expansion plans, MCS is preparing to build a new Science, Library and Partnerships building.
A spokeswoman said the new building will offer an exciting opportunity to reimagine the senior school site as staff look ahead to full co-education.
She added earlier: “With a vision to create a sector-leading science building in the centre of Oxford, the development will enable us to support an ambitious and forward-looking science curriculum, expanding to the emerging and rapidly advancing areas of robotics, AI and Big Data.”
Holding banners which read ‘For f**k’s sake, just stop oil’, the demonstrators took to the road in Parliament Square at noon today (Wednesday, September 2).
This was as Andy Burnham faced his first Prime Minister’s Questions, and many of the protestors glued themselves to the road.
The group demanded that the UK government stop approving all further oil and gas developments, and sign a Fossil Fuel Treaty to stop oil and gas extraction.
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Just Stop Oil say that the police are expected to arrest all those blocking the road, and that one lane has been left free of glued-on action takers to permit access for emergency vehicles.
Andy Burnham is due to make a decision on whether to allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Reverend James Crote, a Baptist Minister and grandfather from Chesterton near Bicester, said: “Today is my grandson’s first birthday. I have to take action for the sake of his future.
The 69-year-old added: “The government has been dilly-dallying about whether to say yes or no to the Rosebank oil field but, if we want a future for our children, there is no choice – it has to say ‘no’.
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“I am here as a Christian Minister because the Church has to speak out and demand that the government stops approving further oil and gas developments now. It’s time for us all to say ‘For God’s sake, Just Stop Oil’.”
Data from the Met Office indicates that 2026 was the hottest summer in UK recorded history, beating 2025, which was the previous hottest summer on record.
2026 was also one of the driest summers on record, delivering record-low food harvests.
Climbing temperatures have triggered wildfires across the country, and national fire chiefs said the wildfire risk facing the UK is “like nothing we have seen before”.
READ MORE: Broadchurch star selling £1.8m ‘magical’ Cotswolds mill house after 60 years
Taking action, grandmother Victoria Ann Lynch-Staunton from Leamington Spa, said: “What is happening is beyond a tragedy.”
The 71-year-old added: “I beg everyone to join Just Stop Oil or governments will continue to prioritise endless growth and corporate profit over billions of lives – yours and your children.
“Wake up and smell the coffin. It is the responsibility of all of us to act now!”
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said today: “We are all Just Stop Oil.
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“Every single person who fears deadly wildfires, devastating droughts, and spiralling food shortages is Just Stop Oil.
“The first duty of government is to keep the public safe – but by greenlighting oil and gas drilling, they endanger our survival while corporates and billionaires laugh their way to the bank.
“Every one of us feels alone and powerless in the face of this insanity, but we know there is massive political and public support for our demand.
“So we’re inviting everyone to join us at an online call on 3rd October 2026 – because it’s when we work together that we are powerful and win.”
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