Eddie Murphy set for new Beverly Hills Cop sequel

Eddie Murphy is being lined up to reprise his role of Axel Foley in a new 'Beverly Hills Cop' film.

According to Deadline, Murphy will play his wise-cracking cop in a new instalment in the series being planned by Paramount.

It was previously thought that the franchise would be heading to TV, with CBS producing a pilot show featuring Murphy as Foley, but mostly focussing on Brandon T. Jackson as Foley's son.

[First look: Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop TV show]

But the show did not get picked up beyond the pilot show.

Now it seems it will be back on the big screen instead, with a script being written by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemac, who wrote 'Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'.

The series first emerged in 1984, directed by Martin Brest and produced by Hollywood legends Simpson and Bruckheimer.

It followed fish-out-of-water Detroit cop Foley heading to upscale Beverly Hills to investigate his friend's murder.

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It spawned two more films - the second directed by the late Tony Scott, the third by John Landis - and an iconic theme tune by Harold Faltermeyer, the synth-tastic 'Axel F'.

The films made $735.5 million (£478 million) in all.

A fourth film in the series has been struggling through potential development since the mid-90s.

Jerry Bruckheimer announced in 2006 that he was to reanimate the franchise, with 'Rush Hour's Brett Ratner announced as the director in 2008.

An early script was rejected – it was to involve Foley investigating the murder of Billy Rosewood, his partner played by Judge Reinhold – but then consequent plans stalled.

It's not clear whether Ratner will be in line to direct.