It must be one of the least likely castings of all time - former EastEnders star Michelle Ryan as the Bionic Woman.
One minute she is selling cut-price puffa jackets in Albert Square market, the next she is lifting articulated lorries with a single bionic arm and running faster than a speeding car. Phew.
But if you think the Bionic Woman storylines are far-fetched, check out the misery endured by her character in EastEnders, Zoe Slater.
Rape, incest, attempted suicide, prostitution, a fake pregnancy and even attempted murder, it makes being rebuilt with bionic ear, legs and right arm sound positively pedestrian.
If only the EastEnders scriptwriters had come up with the bionic idea. With that super-sensitive ear, there wouldn't have been a single bit of gossip that she couldn't hear on Albert Square. And with a hugely strengthened right arm she could have done everyone else's work on the market stall and they could have all gone home early. Brilliant!
Featured iin Variety and Hollywood Reporter today, Ryan is yet another example of the cross-pollination going on between US and UK television that would have been unheard of even five years ago. Eamonn Holmes' flop Fox quiz show not withstanding.
Her trans-Atlantic switch gives hope to soap stars everywhere - well, some of them - who quit their meal ticket with hopes of becoming a star in their own right, only to end up as a regular on the panto circuit.
And it might not stop there. The Bionic Woman also features a Bionic Dog. Alas, the remake has come to late for Roly the Queen Vic poodle, who moved to the great soap in the sky in 1993.
There might be room, however, for a guest appearance from the Six Million Dollar Man, the show that first featured the Bionic Woman in a guest role back in the mid-70s. Ross Kemp's agent is presumably firing off his CV as we speak. Bionic hair not included.
