Sam Neill and Sean Bean are to feature in a big-budget production of the Robinson Crusoe story being made by a UK independent producer for US network NBC.

Crusoe is to be played by Philip Winchester, who featured in the 2004 movie remake of Thunderbirds, while the role of Friday, his companion on the desert island, is yet to be cast. 

Flashbacks of Crusoe’s life are interwoven with the action, with Bean playing his father James, Neill playing family friend Jeremiah Blackthorn, and Anna Walton playing his love interest Susannah. Joss Ackland will appear in one episode in the role of Judge Jeffries.

The series, written by Stephen Gallagher and directed by Duane Clark, follows the swashbuckling adventures of the two island dwellers as they contend with marauding militias, hungry cannibals, wild cats, starvation and lightning storms.

NBC’s Crusoe is the first TV remake of the Daniel Defoe novel since the 1964 French children’s drama series The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, which was repeated on UK TV during summer holidays for many years.

Power, the show’s UK producer, claims this is the first time a US network has directly commissioned a British supplier for nearly 40 years. 

The producer is currently looking for UK distribution for the series, which will screen in the US next year and has also been sold to other territories including Canada. 

Crusoe has a production budget for 13 one-hour episodes of $25m (�13m) and the Power chief executive, Justin Bodle, has promised “a landmark piece of event television” and a “new take on an old favourite”.

The series is currently filming in the UK and the production will soon move on location in South Africa and the Seychelles.

Executive producers are Justin Bodle for Power, Michael Prupas for Muse and Genevieve Hofmeyr for Moonlighting.

Previous productions by Power, which was founded in 1995, include Flood, the Virgin Queen and Casanova.