No Spaced. No The League of Gentlemen. No Smack the Pony or Goodness Gracious Me or The Royle Family or Brass Eye, or Red Dwarf or Father Ted or anything that belongs to the last century (side note: the late 90s were an incredible time for UK comedy). These are the 40 finest British comedy TV shows that have arrived since the year 2000, as nominated by our writers. Add in your favourites below, and it’s a party.
What’s cheering about this lot, apart from the fact that as comedies, they should all technically cheer us up, is how different they are. There’s the surreal chaos of Year of the Rabbit, and the sweet warmth of Lovesick, the Pythonesque bonkersness of Yonderland, the satirical might of The Thick of It and much more. Something for everyone, you might say.
And to make sure there was enough space to include a wide enough selection,...
What’s cheering about this lot, apart from the fact that as comedies, they should all technically cheer us up, is how different they are. There’s the surreal chaos of Year of the Rabbit, and the sweet warmth of Lovesick, the Pythonesque bonkersness of Yonderland, the satirical might of The Thick of It and much more. Something for everyone, you might say.
And to make sure there was enough space to include a wide enough selection,...
- 9/1/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
A sequel to the British holiday film Your Christmas Or Mine? has been greenlit at Amazon, with stars Asa Butterfield (Sex Education) and Cora Kirk (Prey for the Devil) signed on to return.
Titled Your Christmas Or Mine 2, the pic will hit Prime Video in December 2023. American actress Jane Krakowski (30 Rock) has joined the cast. Cast also returning from the first edition are Alex Jennings (The Crown), Daniel Mays (Fisherman’s Friends), David Bradley (Harry Potter series), Angela Griffin (White Lines), and Natalie Gumede (Titans).
Synopsis reads: It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but will it be for James and Hayley? James’ father has invited the Taylors to spend Christmas in a luxury ski resort in the Austrian Alps so they can meet his new American girlfriend (played by Jane Krakowski). However, Hayley’s dad Geoff insisted on handling his family’s side of the booking, and something got lost in translation.
Titled Your Christmas Or Mine 2, the pic will hit Prime Video in December 2023. American actress Jane Krakowski (30 Rock) has joined the cast. Cast also returning from the first edition are Alex Jennings (The Crown), Daniel Mays (Fisherman’s Friends), David Bradley (Harry Potter series), Angela Griffin (White Lines), and Natalie Gumede (Titans).
Synopsis reads: It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but will it be for James and Hayley? James’ father has invited the Taylors to spend Christmas in a luxury ski resort in the Austrian Alps so they can meet his new American girlfriend (played by Jane Krakowski). However, Hayley’s dad Geoff insisted on handling his family’s side of the booking, and something got lost in translation.
- 7/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Globalisation isn’t just about lax child labour laws lowering the price of t-shirts; it also has its downsides. Global markets have a tendency to replace local idiosyncrasy with the accessibly bland. Should, for instance, the makers of Sweden’s chocolate Plopp Bar ever branch out into English-speaking territories, they’d be forced to rename their product to something much less funny, and we’d all be the worse off for it.
Murderville, a US series based on BBC Three’s Murder in Successville, is worse off for just that reason. In the transatlantic translation of the semi-improvised detective comedy, a niche element has been dropped, and with it, much of the original’s charm. Here’s the premise: every episode, a celebrity guest is thrown amongst a regular cast of comedy actors to solve a murder alongside the lead detective. There’s a part-script for everybody but the celebrity,...
Murderville, a US series based on BBC Three’s Murder in Successville, is worse off for just that reason. In the transatlantic translation of the semi-improvised detective comedy, a niche element has been dropped, and with it, much of the original’s charm. Here’s the premise: every episode, a celebrity guest is thrown amongst a regular cast of comedy actors to solve a murder alongside the lead detective. There’s a part-script for everybody but the celebrity,...
- 2/1/2022
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Netflix has released the first trailer for “Murderville,” the new crime comedy series starring Will Arnett.
The series is adapted from the BAFTA award-winning BBC3 series “Murder in Successville,” which was created by Andy Brereton and Avril Spary. Arnett stars as Terry Seattle, a senior homicide detective who is paired with a different celebrity guest star to solve a murder case in every episode. The show’s twist is that the guest stars aren’t given a script, forcing them to improvise their way through the case and ultimately guess who the killer is at the end of the episode.
The trailer shows Arnett’s Seattle interacting with his guest stars, coaching them along as new developments in the absurd cases reveal themselves.
“You’re supposed to gasp,” Seattle deadpans to guest star Kumail Nanjiani after an officer declares there’s been a murder. “Weird gasp,” he mutters when Nanjiani follows his instructions.
The series is adapted from the BAFTA award-winning BBC3 series “Murder in Successville,” which was created by Andy Brereton and Avril Spary. Arnett stars as Terry Seattle, a senior homicide detective who is paired with a different celebrity guest star to solve a murder case in every episode. The show’s twist is that the guest stars aren’t given a script, forcing them to improvise their way through the case and ultimately guess who the killer is at the end of the episode.
The trailer shows Arnett’s Seattle interacting with his guest stars, coaching them along as new developments in the absurd cases reveal themselves.
“You’re supposed to gasp,” Seattle deadpans to guest star Kumail Nanjiani after an officer declares there’s been a murder. “Weird gasp,” he mutters when Nanjiani follows his instructions.
- 1/24/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
2020 in British TV comedy brought us Maisie Williams as a kickass survivalist in a pickle, and a new parenting comedy from the hugely talented Simon Blackwell and Chris Addison starring Martin Freeman.
To add to that, there was also a fresh batch of comedians playing exaggerated versions of themselves in self-penned sitcoms, including Katherine Ryan, Mae Martin, Sara Pascoe, Kayleigh Llewellyn, Lucy Beaumont and Jon Richardson.
Here’s the skinny on all those new shows and more. Here’s what arrived in 2019, and here are the new British TV dramas that arrived in 2020.
Breeders
After their excellent 2014 relationship comedy Trying Again, Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell teamed up on a new series, this time about the trials of parenthood. Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard played parents in this ten-part half-hour comedy, a co-production between Sky in the UK and FX in the US. Watch the first trailer here.
Bumps
Available...
To add to that, there was also a fresh batch of comedians playing exaggerated versions of themselves in self-penned sitcoms, including Katherine Ryan, Mae Martin, Sara Pascoe, Kayleigh Llewellyn, Lucy Beaumont and Jon Richardson.
Here’s the skinny on all those new shows and more. Here’s what arrived in 2019, and here are the new British TV dramas that arrived in 2020.
Breeders
After their excellent 2014 relationship comedy Trying Again, Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell teamed up on a new series, this time about the trials of parenthood. Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard played parents in this ten-part half-hour comedy, a co-production between Sky in the UK and FX in the US. Watch the first trailer here.
Bumps
Available...
- 1/12/2021
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: Three stars of BBC Three’s hit mockumentary People Just Do Nothing are reuniting to develop a Channel 4 comedy about a gang who get more than they bargained for after being involved in a robbery.
Deadline understands that Steve Stamp, Allan Mustafa and Hugo Chegwin are writing the show, which has the working title The Curse and is housed at Endemol Shine Group’s comedy company Shiny Button Productions.
James De Frond, who runs Shiny Button with comedian Tom Davis, directed a pilot of the comedy last year, but a full series is yet to be commissioned. Channel 4 said it is in development with no current filming plans.
The Curse is set in the 1980s and follows the gang after the heist. It is said to be based on a true story and has echoes of the notorious 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery at Heathrow. Thieves got away with £26M,...
Deadline understands that Steve Stamp, Allan Mustafa and Hugo Chegwin are writing the show, which has the working title The Curse and is housed at Endemol Shine Group’s comedy company Shiny Button Productions.
James De Frond, who runs Shiny Button with comedian Tom Davis, directed a pilot of the comedy last year, but a full series is yet to be commissioned. Channel 4 said it is in development with no current filming plans.
The Curse is set in the 1980s and follows the gang after the heist. It is said to be based on a true story and has echoes of the notorious 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery at Heathrow. Thieves got away with £26M,...
- 7/2/2020
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow Prods., whose CEO is former BBC Films chief Christine Langan, has appointed Rupert Majendie as head of comedy development.
Majendie produced BAFTA-nominated BBC series “Pls Like,” starring Liam Williams and Tim Key, Nick Helm’s “Heavy Entertainment” for BBC Three, and, most recently, the new Tom Davis and James de Frond BBC One sitcom “King Gary.” For film, he is in production with Film4 and the BFI on funded feature “Brian and Charles,” written by David Earl and Chris Hayward.
Alongside his television credits, Majendie also created online comedy platform mr box, originating ideas that have gone on to be adapted for other mediums including Romesh Ranganathan’s “Hip Hop Saved My Life” and Earl and Hayward’s “Brian and Charles.”
Coogan, Baby Cow’s creative director, said: “Rupert is at the vanguard of the emergent generation of comedy writers and performers. He has intuitive good taste.
Majendie produced BAFTA-nominated BBC series “Pls Like,” starring Liam Williams and Tim Key, Nick Helm’s “Heavy Entertainment” for BBC Three, and, most recently, the new Tom Davis and James de Frond BBC One sitcom “King Gary.” For film, he is in production with Film4 and the BFI on funded feature “Brian and Charles,” written by David Earl and Chris Hayward.
Alongside his television credits, Majendie also created online comedy platform mr box, originating ideas that have gone on to be adapted for other mediums including Romesh Ranganathan’s “Hip Hop Saved My Life” and Earl and Hayward’s “Brian and Charles.”
Coogan, Baby Cow’s creative director, said: “Rupert is at the vanguard of the emergent generation of comedy writers and performers. He has intuitive good taste.
- 5/20/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Controversial British artist Tracey Emin is getting the urban myths treatment at Sky.
The Comcast-owned broadcaster has ordered on a comedy drama about Emin’s infamous messy bed artwork with Inside No. 9 and The Windsors star Morgana Robinson (below) playing Emin.
One-off special In Bed with Tracey Emin, which will be a surreal telling of how Emin created the infamous work of art in less than a week, will air as part of Sky’s Urban Myths strand in 2020.
The strand, which airs on Sky Arts, is gearing up for its fourth season. Previous specials have seen Gemma Arterton star as Marilyn Monroe set against the backdrop of the 1959 rom-com Some Like It Hot, Sophie Rundle play Princess Diana in a story about a night out with Freddie Mercury, and Kelly Macdonald as Princess Margaret in a comedy about her relationship with Mick Jagger. The strand’s most controversial moment,...
The Comcast-owned broadcaster has ordered on a comedy drama about Emin’s infamous messy bed artwork with Inside No. 9 and The Windsors star Morgana Robinson (below) playing Emin.
One-off special In Bed with Tracey Emin, which will be a surreal telling of how Emin created the infamous work of art in less than a week, will air as part of Sky’s Urban Myths strand in 2020.
The strand, which airs on Sky Arts, is gearing up for its fourth season. Previous specials have seen Gemma Arterton star as Marilyn Monroe set against the backdrop of the 1959 rom-com Some Like It Hot, Sophie Rundle play Princess Diana in a story about a night out with Freddie Mercury, and Kelly Macdonald as Princess Margaret in a comedy about her relationship with Mick Jagger. The strand’s most controversial moment,...
- 11/27/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: CAA has signed a trio of folks who scored trophies for comedy at the BAFTA TV Awards on Sunday: Murder in Successville‘s Tom Davis and James De Frond and This Country writer–director Tom George.
Davis and De Frond took home the Best Comedy Programme BAFTA for Murder in Successville, the semi-improvisational BBC Three series that teams Davis’ Detective Inspector Sleet with a different celebrity each week to solve a killing. Davis and De Frond last year co-founded Shiny Button Productions, a TV and film production company specializing in scripted content that operates as an independent production label within Tiger Aspect Productions.
Davis also stars in Action Team, a spy-action spoof series airing on ITV2, and recently starred in the sequel Paddington 2. He has also appeared on The Morgana Show, Bad Education, Drunk History and Plebs. Writer-director-producer De Frond worked on Leigh Frances’ sketch show Bo’Selecta!
Davis and De Frond took home the Best Comedy Programme BAFTA for Murder in Successville, the semi-improvisational BBC Three series that teams Davis’ Detective Inspector Sleet with a different celebrity each week to solve a killing. Davis and De Frond last year co-founded Shiny Button Productions, a TV and film production company specializing in scripted content that operates as an independent production label within Tiger Aspect Productions.
Davis also stars in Action Team, a spy-action spoof series airing on ITV2, and recently starred in the sequel Paddington 2. He has also appeared on The Morgana Show, Bad Education, Drunk History and Plebs. Writer-director-producer De Frond worked on Leigh Frances’ sketch show Bo’Selecta!
- 5/15/2018
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Peaky Blinders won best drama at tonight’s BAFTA TV Awards beating The Crown in a surprise move. While Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret in the first two seasons of Netflix’s royal drama, won best supporting actress, it was another disappointing night for Left Bank and the gang.
Kirby said Claire Foy, who was beaten to best actress by Three Girls’ Molly Windsor in another massive upset, was the “best sister I’ve ever had apart from my actual sister”. But it didn’t stop the surprise after Foy, who was at the center of a pay controversy earlier this year, will go empty handed in terms of UK awards for her star turn in The Crown.
It was largely a night for domestic successes rather than awards for the slew of international co-productions and British-made Svod series that were nominated.
Three Girls, a drama about the Rochdale rape case,...
Kirby said Claire Foy, who was beaten to best actress by Three Girls’ Molly Windsor in another massive upset, was the “best sister I’ve ever had apart from my actual sister”. But it didn’t stop the surprise after Foy, who was at the center of a pay controversy earlier this year, will go empty handed in terms of UK awards for her star turn in The Crown.
It was largely a night for domestic successes rather than awards for the slew of international co-productions and British-made Svod series that were nominated.
Three Girls, a drama about the Rochdale rape case,...
- 5/13/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix shows “The Crown” and “Black Mirror” each landed three nominations Wednesday for BAFTA Television Awards, as did BBC dramas “Line of Duty” and “Three Girls.”
Royal chronicle “The Crown” received nominations for best drama; for Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth II, as leading actress; and for Vanessa Kirby, who plays Princess Margaret, as best supporting actress. “Black Mirror,” the dark, dystopian anthology series, also bagged nominations in the leading actor, single drama, and supporting actor categories.
Police drama “Line of Duty’s” trio of nominations included one for drama series and one for lead actress Thandie Newton. “Three Girls,” about sexual abuse in a community in northern England, will compete for the best miniseries award.
The nominations were unveiled Wednesday morning at BAFTA’s Piccadilly headquarters in London, with Michelle Keegan and presenter and “Strictly Come Dancing Winner” Ore Oduba making the announcements.
BAFTA chairwoman Jane Lush told...
Royal chronicle “The Crown” received nominations for best drama; for Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth II, as leading actress; and for Vanessa Kirby, who plays Princess Margaret, as best supporting actress. “Black Mirror,” the dark, dystopian anthology series, also bagged nominations in the leading actor, single drama, and supporting actor categories.
Police drama “Line of Duty’s” trio of nominations included one for drama series and one for lead actress Thandie Newton. “Three Girls,” about sexual abuse in a community in northern England, will compete for the best miniseries award.
The nominations were unveiled Wednesday morning at BAFTA’s Piccadilly headquarters in London, with Michelle Keegan and presenter and “Strictly Come Dancing Winner” Ore Oduba making the announcements.
BAFTA chairwoman Jane Lush told...
- 4/4/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
‘The Crown’ Battles It Out With ‘Black Mirror’ & ‘Line Of Duty’ As BAFTA TV Nominations Are Unveiled
Netflix drama The Crown is once again set to duke it out to win at the BAFTA TV Awards after being nominated in three key categories alongside Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology series Black Mirror, Thandie Newton-fronted cop drama Line of Duty and domestic British series Three Girls.
The period series was shut out at last year’s event despite picking up five nominations and has once again been nominated in the best drama category, while Claire Foy will go up against Hollywood star Thandie Newton for best actress. Given Foy’s performance over the two seasons, and the recent controversy over her salary, she is the hot favorite to pick up a gong as she exits the Left Bank drama. Similarly, Vanessa Kirby, who is handing over the reins of Princess Margaret to Helena Bonham Carter for seasons three and four of The Crown, is nominated for supporting...
The period series was shut out at last year’s event despite picking up five nominations and has once again been nominated in the best drama category, while Claire Foy will go up against Hollywood star Thandie Newton for best actress. Given Foy’s performance over the two seasons, and the recent controversy over her salary, she is the hot favorite to pick up a gong as she exits the Left Bank drama. Similarly, Vanessa Kirby, who is handing over the reins of Princess Margaret to Helena Bonham Carter for seasons three and four of The Crown, is nominated for supporting...
- 4/4/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
If you thought you were safe in the hands of Superman, Thor or even James Bond – think again. The latest and bravest superhero arrives in the (very) unlikely form of Logan, an MI6 agent who specialises in comical endeavours and collateral damage in the new ITV2 series Action Team… Played by the Very funny Tom Davis (Plebs, The Keith Lemon Show, Murder in Successville), Logan leads a top-secret team of special agents working for the British government – charged with saving the world in this spoof spy action-thriller series, Action Team. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you won’t believe what you’ve seen.
Think The Bourne Identity meets The Naked Gun.
McM have this week announced that the crew and cast behind the series are coming to McM Birmingham Comic Con! Go behind the scenes of ITV2’s comedy featuring a dysfunctional group of spies when Tom Davis...
Think The Bourne Identity meets The Naked Gun.
McM have this week announced that the crew and cast behind the series are coming to McM Birmingham Comic Con! Go behind the scenes of ITV2’s comedy featuring a dysfunctional group of spies when Tom Davis...
- 3/6/2018
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Matt Edwards Mar 5, 2018
Is there life left in the action comedy spoof? Matt sees how ITV2's Action Team, starting tonight, measures up...
For almost as long as action heroes have donned vests and duffed up scheming evil doers, there have been comedians sending them up for it. From The Naked Gun to Hot Fuzz, action films have served as the inspiration behind some of the cinemas funniest comedies.
See related 35 must-watch movies in 2017
There’s something inherently ridiculous about action films. Elevating masculinity and chaotic violence to obscene levels all while keeping a straight face is silly. How many times have we seen a hyper-muscled, wise-cracking tough nut, covered in grease and without a shirt, grappling with any man who gets in his way? Take the third Rambo film, a movie full of ultra-violence courtesy of the outrageous arsenal of its lone wolf protagonist, and one that demands to be made fun of.
Is there life left in the action comedy spoof? Matt sees how ITV2's Action Team, starting tonight, measures up...
For almost as long as action heroes have donned vests and duffed up scheming evil doers, there have been comedians sending them up for it. From The Naked Gun to Hot Fuzz, action films have served as the inspiration behind some of the cinemas funniest comedies.
See related 35 must-watch movies in 2017
There’s something inherently ridiculous about action films. Elevating masculinity and chaotic violence to obscene levels all while keeping a straight face is silly. How many times have we seen a hyper-muscled, wise-cracking tough nut, covered in grease and without a shirt, grappling with any man who gets in his way? Take the third Rambo film, a movie full of ultra-violence courtesy of the outrageous arsenal of its lone wolf protagonist, and one that demands to be made fun of.
- 3/4/2018
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: Successville team developing film version of award-winning comedy through their new production company.
The team behind Murder In Successville, Andy Brereton, James De frond and Tom Davis, are working on a film version of the award-winning BBC comedy.
The trio are launching a brand-new production company called Shiny Button, which will develop and produce original content across both television and feature films.
Brereton, De frond and Davis told Screen that one of the projects they are developing is a film incarnation of Murder In Succesville.
“The unprecedented success of Murder In Successville has inspired us to create a highly original film project in which the lead character Di Sleet [played by Tom Davis] shepherds an unknowing mega star through an action-packed cop drama,” they said.
“Imagine a cop buddy film like Lethal Weapon, except one half of the cop duo doesn’t know the script or what surprises are in store.”
They also said: “Further down the line we have...
The team behind Murder In Successville, Andy Brereton, James De frond and Tom Davis, are working on a film version of the award-winning BBC comedy.
The trio are launching a brand-new production company called Shiny Button, which will develop and produce original content across both television and feature films.
Brereton, De frond and Davis told Screen that one of the projects they are developing is a film incarnation of Murder In Succesville.
“The unprecedented success of Murder In Successville has inspired us to create a highly original film project in which the lead character Di Sleet [played by Tom Davis] shepherds an unknowing mega star through an action-packed cop drama,” they said.
“Imagine a cop buddy film like Lethal Weapon, except one half of the cop duo doesn’t know the script or what surprises are in store.”
They also said: “Further down the line we have...
- 5/10/2017
- by orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com (Orlando Parfitt)
- ScreenDaily
Brit actor Tom Davis, Andy Brereton and James De Frond, the team behind hit BBC Three series Murder in Successville, have launched new indie scripted comedy production company Shiny Button. The company will work as an independent label within Tiger Aspect Productions and will form part of the Endemol Shine UK, developing and producing original content across both television and feature films. It will collaborate with both emerging and established UK and U.S. comedic…...
- 5/10/2017
- Deadline TV
Channel 4 has commissioned a pilot for a new sci-fi sitcom.
Space Ark - written by Pete Versus Life duo George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore - follows 200 humans who have survived the destruction of earth.
The pilot will star Georgia King (The New Normal), Tom Stourton (Siblings), Justin Edwards (The Thick of It), Alex Beckett (Twenty Twelve), Ricky Grover (EastEnders) and Nico Tatarowicz (The Armstrong and Miller Show).
A synopsis for the pilot reads: "It's 6 months, 1 week, and 4 days since the earth was destroyed by an asteroid. 200 humans survive on board a huge 'Space Ark'. Their mission? To find a new planet where the human race can be re-established.
"The ship is populated by the finest minds the earth had to offer, plus an inept crew, an android-bear pilot and a member of the public who won his place by lottery.
"In the pilot episode the crew encounter a seemingly friendly alien race,...
Space Ark - written by Pete Versus Life duo George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore - follows 200 humans who have survived the destruction of earth.
The pilot will star Georgia King (The New Normal), Tom Stourton (Siblings), Justin Edwards (The Thick of It), Alex Beckett (Twenty Twelve), Ricky Grover (EastEnders) and Nico Tatarowicz (The Armstrong and Miller Show).
A synopsis for the pilot reads: "It's 6 months, 1 week, and 4 days since the earth was destroyed by an asteroid. 200 humans survive on board a huge 'Space Ark'. Their mission? To find a new planet where the human race can be re-established.
"The ship is populated by the finest minds the earth had to offer, plus an inept crew, an android-bear pilot and a member of the public who won his place by lottery.
"In the pilot episode the crew encounter a seemingly friendly alien race,...
- 12/12/2014
- Digital Spy
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