Knight Rider Returns

Tomorrow sees the return of Knight Rider, in a two-hour made-for-TV movie staring Justin Bruening as the original Knight Rider's estranged son.

The movie looks exciting so far - as it rightly should. There are expectations that this 'television movie event' (as the network calls it) will serve as a 'backdoor pilot' for a new TV series about everybody's favourite talking car.

Whether that will happen or not depends on how well a rejuvenated KITT performs on screen tomorrow.

Fans of the original TV show, which ran from 1982 to 1986, will be pleased to see the original star David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff back for a cameo. The REAL star of the show, though, will be replaced by a talking 550bhp Ford Mustang GT500KR. Personally, I'm going to miss the ol' Trans Am - but I've always had something of an unhealthy obsession with Firebirds!

Also missing is the original voice of KITT - classy American actor William Daniels. He's been replaced by a somewhat sly and sarcastic Val Kilmer (after original choice Will Arnett had to back out due to a sponsorship clash with his paymasters at General Motors.)

The plot revolves around KITT's inventor being kidnapped by nasty Brit Greg Ellis - and it's up to the scientist's obligatory gorgeous daughter (soap actress Deanna Russo) to team up with the new generation of the Knight Rider family (both car and driver) to rescue her father.

I'm sure we can expect lots of sexual tension between the leads (not to mention between the car, since clips reveal that Val Kilmer's voice work is positively smouldering.) Throw in some fisticuffs, a few squealing tyres and some of that witty banter than made the original Knight Rider so entertaining and it looks like NBC might be onto a winner.

Knight Rider hits your screen on NBC, Sunday night at 9pm. Catch all the latest videos, pictures and interviews at the official NBC website.