Belfast-based Fabel and Toronto’s Cameron Pictures prep culture clash series

Cast Composite

Top Row L-R: Dustin Milligan (Image: Rodin Eckenroth), Diona Doherty (Image: Khara Pringle) , Ian McElhinney (Image: Chris Hill), Dan Gordon (Image: Damian McCann), Muki Zubis (Image: B Clarence Photography),Bottom Row L-R: Seamus O’Hara (Image: Nathan Magee), Patrick Buchanan (Image: Khara Pringle), Chris McCurry (Image: Brandon Bishop), Georgie Murphy (Image: Jeffery Mosier Photography), Athena Karkanis (Image: Bjoern Kommerell)

BBC Northern Ireland and Canadian broadcaster CBC have co-commissioned romcom Committed.

The 10-part half-hour series hails from Northern Irish indie Fabel Productions and Canadian outfit Cameron Pictures, and follows Canadian Peter Hooley, a recently divorced accountant who falls in love with Northern Irish woman Julie Johnston after a whirlwind weekend in Toronto.

Peter then crosses the Atlantic to declare his love to Julie, only to find he’s landed in an old-fashioned and eccentric rural Northern Ireland village that’s nothing like he imagined.

Dustin Milligan (Schitt’s Creek) and Diona Doherty (Blue Lights) lead the cast as Peter and Julie, supported by Ian McElhinney (Derry Girls), Dan Gordon (Blue Lights), Muki Zubis (This is Going to Hurt) and Seamus O’Hara (Say Nothing). Production is currently underway in County Down, with additional scenes shooting in Hamilton, Ontario.

The series is slated to premiere on CBC and its streaming service CBC Gem in winter 2027 and is expected to air on BBC Northern Ireland around the same time.

Committed is produced under the UK/Canada co-production treaty, with Fox handling global sales. It was developed under the Northern Ireland Screen/Canada Media Fund Co-Development Initiative for Audiovisual Projects. Additional financing was provided by the Canada Media Fund and Northern Ireland Screen.

Sally Catto, general manager of programming, executive director of scripted Trish Williams, current productions director for comedy Sandra Picheca, and executive in charge of production Mélanie Lê Phan will oversee the series for CBC. The series was ordered by Eddie Doyle, head of content commissioning, and commissioning editor Jason Butler for BBC NI.

The series is co-created by Keith Martin, Gerry Dee and Tim Loane, with the latter serving as showrunner.

Dee and Loane also serve as executive producers, alongside Amy Cameron, Tassie Cameron and Alex Patrick for Cameron Pictures, Keith Martin for Fabel, Jessie Gabe and Molly McGlynn, the latter of whom shares directing duties with Peter Huang.

Milligan, Karen Tsang, Caledonia Brown and Shebli Zarghami serve as co-exec producers, with Chris Martin as producer.

Loane, Gabe and Zarghami share writing duties, with Kurt Smeaton serving as supervising producer and Linsey Stewart as consulting producer.

Catto said: “Committed offers a classic fish-out-of-water comedy intertwined with a unique love story that follows the all too human aftermath of a grand romantic gesture, rather than the build-up to it.”

Butler added: “It’s fantastic for BBC Northern Ireland to link up with CBC on this innovative project helping to further develop and support the creative industry here and to bring a flavour of our Northern Ireland humour to comedy fans further afield.”

Amy Cameron promised the series is “rooted in place and perspective” but has universal themes that resonate with global audiences, while Martin added it would have “high hopes, comedy with consequences and lots of animals”.

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