Jesse Metcalfe wasn't sure about appearing in Dallas because he saw it as an "80s institution".

The former Desperate Housewives star plays Bobby Ewing's adopted son Christopher in the re-vamped version of the classic show.

The actor now admits he had slight reservations about resurrecting the iconic series.

"I didn't know if it was a good idea," he told the BBC.

"I thought of it as an 80s institution, but they bridged the gap between the old and new series, picking up on this dysfunctional family and where they're at 20 years later."

Jesse isn't the only actor who felt a certain amount of scepticism about the venture.

Stars of the original series Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray were only convinced once they had seen writer and developer Cynthia Cidre's script.

"We love this show and we're so fiercely protective of it," Patrick revealed.

"When the idea was floated to re-do Dallas, we said, 'OK, you can try, we'll look at the script' But this script was brilliant - we called each other and said, 'We're in."