Murdoch plans 'Sex and the City' for men

At long last: something on the television for men to gossip about. Elisabeth Murdoch, the TV executive daughter of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, is to produce a male version of Sex and the City.

In a bid to do for eligible bachelors what Candace Bushnell's designer label-obsessed New York singletons have for 30-something women, the punningly-titled Sinchronicity will follow the fortunes of a group of professional men.

The programme, to be set in an as yet undetermined American city, has been commissioned by HBO, the cable channel that turned the comedy into a global institution.

Executives are hoping Sinchronicity will provide some solace to the millions of fans left bereft by the news that the next series of Sex and the City will be the last.

Though few details are yet known about the new show, it is expected to follow much the same formula as Sex and the City. Like its precursor, it will focus on the colourful social lives of a group of free-spirited singletons, though rumour has it that, this time, at least one character will be gay.

A spokesman for Ms Murdoch's publicists, Freud Communications, the company owned by her husband, Matthew Freud, played down suggestions that the show would be simply "a male equivalent" of Sex and the City.

But pressed on the nature of its characters and storyline, he said: "It's about a group of male friends. Among other things, they will spend time in the series discussing their sex lives, although there are far more elements to it than that.

"We don't yet know exactly how many characters will be involved, or even which city it's going to be set in."

The choice of Sinchronicity as a potential long-term replacement for Sex and the City marks a personal triumph for Ms Murdoch, whose career so far has been eclipsed by that of her father.

After leaving her post as managing director of BSkyB, she had a brief spell as non-executive director of troubled magazine publisher Future Networks, before returning to her first love, television.

Two years ago, she co-founded the independent production house, Shine Entertainment, with Lord Alli, the Labour peer. The company has yet to have a major commercial success, and Sinchronicity could provide just the ticket.

News of the series, which was originally devised for British television but will now be made primarily for a US audience, is bound to invite speculation about who might be cast in the leads.

In recent years, US television has offered new leases of life to some C-list Hollywood actors. Kiefer Sutherland was saved fromplaying villains in straight-to-video thrillers after being cast in the ratings-winning crime drama 24, while The Sopranos has made a star of the previously little-known actor James Gandolfini.

Beau Bridges, long overshadowed by his brother Jeff, has fronted a number of popular US television dramas.

Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays sassy columnist Carrie in Sex and the City, also had a brief movie career before landing the role that has turned her into a household name. Perhaps studio executives will now offer a similar opportunity to her husband, the actor Matthew Broderick, whose star has been fading since his 1980s heyday.