'Zack & Cody' get ship spinoff

Disney Channel is making a Suite Life of Zack & Cody spinoff series set on a cruise ship.

Brothers Cole and Dylan Sprouse will return in their title roles for The Suite Life On Deck along with Brenda Song and Phill Lewis.

They will sign up to spend a semester on the boat SS Tipton along with hotel heiress London Tipton and manager Mr Moseby.

Gary Marsh, Disney Channels Worldwide president of entertainment, said the show had earned the spinoff: "Our audience has shown us that after 88 episodes, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody remains one of their favourite sitcoms ever.

"We decided to find a new way for Zack, Cody, London and Mr Moseby to live The Suite Life in a whole new setting - this time aboard a luxury cruise liner."

Other roles are currently being cast and the channel's senior vice president of original programming, Adam Bonnett, said he wanted to start production as soon as the Hollywood writers' strike ends. Some scripts are already finished.

Bonnett said the new setting would help Zack & Cody meet a global audience. "This is a premise that can travel and go to different locales and ports of call so that we're not doing a show set just in the US.

"It's an organic setting to bring in unique musical numbers and performances. Like a real cruise ship, we can have a theater where we can create original production numbers."