Richard Wilson / Rex Features
The BBC's new telling of Merlin is to air on primetime TV in the States.

The 13-part series, which stars One Foot In The Grave's Richard Wilson, will air in the Doctor Who slot on BBC One from the autumn. The show will then get its US outing on NBC the following Spring.

The move is a reversal of the usual import-export process, where US shows air on UK networks after their domestic broadcast.

Other imports airing on NBC in 2008-09 include Canadian drama The Listener, about a paramedic who can read people's minds, and Crusoe, a new adaptation of the Daniel Defoe novel being produced by UK firm Power Entertainment.

> Click here to find out what else is in NBC's 2008-09 lineup