Channel 5 to screen new series of The X-Files

Channel 5 has announced that it will screen the new six-part series of The X-Files early next year.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are returning to their roles as FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, while the new series will be executive produced by series creator Chris Carter.

The Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning mystery thriller series last screened 13 years ago.

Ben Frow, Channel 5's director of programmes, said: “Securing the UK premiere of the hugely anticipated return of The X-Files is a major coup for the channel and will create one of the television events of 2016.”

The series being made in the US by Twentieth Century Fox Distribution and its spokesperson Steve Cornish said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Channel 5 as we bring the next chapter of one of our most celebrated series to fans around the world.”

As well, the deal with Twentieth Century Fox Distribution will allow Channel 5 to screen 20 episodes of the original series, which premiered in 1993.

The new series of The X-Files will screen first on Fox TV in the US. Watch the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1SmJUBT5q0

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.