There is now a third adaptation of The Day of the Jackal on offer. I am unsure whether I was more surprised by this than when they announced the second remake but nonetheless the same question sprang immediately to mind-why?

The original film staring Edward Fox was released in 1973 and it was a very good adaptation of the novel of the same name by English thriller writer Frederick Forsyth first published in 1971. For many years it enjoyed a cult status as a cool, political thriller about a debonair English assassin, Charles Calthrop sent to France to kill President de Galle in the summer of 1963. But fast-forward to 1997 and what can be best described as a loose remake called The Jackal starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Sidney Poitier.

Quite rightly it drew few plaudits, why they did it I could only wonder and now, in 2024 we have The Day of the Jackal, a British television series starring Eddie Redmayne as the assassin. The film omits killing de Galle but the premise remains the same of an Intelligence Officer (Lashana Lynch) chasing the Jackal who takes the original master of disguise to a whole new level.

But why do they do it? This series is clearly aimed at a younger audience, few of which will have heard of the original whilst those, like me who have will roll their eyes and grumble about nothing being sacred anymore. The plots are so loosely based on the original that I can only assume the writers and producers cannot think of an original title. This is not a criticism of this new series but more a question of do the producers think using a fifty year old book/film title will help boost viewing figures?