Levinson to proceed with TV series

Barry Levinson plans to proceed with a television series based on the Baltimore Police Department's homicide squad after resolving a plagiarism complaint he had against the producers of another TV series, said an assistant to the Baltimore-born director.

Mr. Levinson had charged Warner Bros., the producer of an upcoming CBS drama, "Polish Hill," with plagiarizing elements of the 1991 book, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," on which he was basing his own series. "Homicide" was written by Sun reporter David Simon, who spent a year with the police detectives who investigate murders.

Warner Bros. agreed to change certain elements of "Polish Hill" that Mr. Levinson and Mr. Simon had said were lifted from "Homicide," Gail Mutrix, Mr. Levinson's assistant, said yesterday. A Warner Bros. spokeswoman, however, denied that an agreement had been reached.

Mr. Levinson plans to begin filming his series for NBC in Baltimore in several months, she said.