David Soul thinks the movie will "cheat" fans

The movie version of the cult show, which originally starred Soul as Hutch and Paul Michael Glaser as Starsky, will instead feature Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller in the roles.

Soul, according to a newspaper report on Friday, is said to be outraged the makers of the �60m film did not ask Glaser and himself to reprise the roles. Filming for the movie began this week.

"They ain't Starsky and Hutch, and to cast them as such cheats a huge audience who grew up with Glaser and Soul in the roles," the 59-year-old actor told the Daily Mail.

"Their decision to make this kind of picture is an insult to the intelligence of the audience and the real warm feelings Starsky and Hutch still engenders in the collective memory of millions of viewers," he said.

Soul said he and Glaser, 60, wanted to return to the roles for one last case, and is upset the pair have been replaced with younger actors.

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Soul and Glaser starred as the undercover police detectives in 88 episodes of the show starting in September 1975, which made stars of them and the red-and-white liveried Ford Gran Torino they drove.

The show ended suddenly with Starsky and Hutch apparently sacked after a sting operation that went wrong.

After the show ended, Soul moved to London and has returned to the singing career he had before the programme.

'Glitzy action piece'

Starsky and Hutch broke ground as one of the first police dramas to show a seamier side of crime, including prostitutes, pimps and police informers.

Soul says the film, which will be set in the 70s like the TV show, could be in danger of becoming a "glitzy action piece" like the remake of Charlie's Angels.

One of their most popular characters was the sometime-informer, Huggy Bear, played by Antonio Fargas.

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Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller, two of America's biggest comic actors, have already starred in films together including Zoolander, The Royal Tenenbaums and Meet The Parents.