Vexed was created by Howard Overman, who wrote many fine episodes of Merlin and is the brains behind the excellent Misfits, but it was a pretty bad show in my opinion. This was mostly because it wasn't very funny, the mysteries weren't interesting, and I really hated Stephens' broad performance. It didn't help that they had to replace Punch for series 2, and the show struggled in the ratings when aired against the London 2012 Olympic Games. A third series now looks extremely unlikely.
The US version is being produced by the UK's Eleventh Hour Films, and there's every chance it will be a huge improvement. There's nothing wrong with the show's basic concept, of course. I just don't see what's so exceptional about that idea to make ABC buy the remake rights. If they made their own cop show comedy about a female detective partnered with a male detective (who was a bit of a sexist idiot), would anyone scream that it was a Vexed rip-off? Haven't there already been dozens of shows like Vexed? That was part of the problem I had with the UK show to begin with: it brought nothing new to a very tired genre.
But maybe you disagree? Wouldn't it be interesting if Lucy Punch reprised her role, given how she has a viable US-based career?
