Boffola behind Car Share co-creator’s Undoing Martin Parker, while ABC co-pros Queen of Oz
Peter Kay’s Car Share duo Paul Coleman and Sian Gibson are behind a Boffola Pictures sitcom for BBC1, supported by a Catherine Tate series about an Australian royal.
Coleman and Gibson, who co-created Goodnight Vienna’s BBC1 sitcom, have reunited for Undoing Martin Parker, a 6 x 30-minute sitcom set in Manchester in 1990 at the tail end of the Margaret Thatcher government.
Parker (Conleth Hill) is a self-made man with a chain of electrical stores who seems to have it all but is actually drowning in debt, with a complicated private life and is losing his power.
It is to be produced by former BBC comedy duo Shane Allen and Kate Daughton’s Boffola Pictures and its backer Lookout Point.
Daughton will exec with BBC head of comedy Tanya Qureshi. The show was ordered by director of comedy Jon Petrie, who replaced Allen at the BBC last summer.
Petrie said: “Sian and Paul have created an irresistible gang of comedy characters and a world packed with joyful nostalgia.”
Filming will commence in early 2023 in Stockport.
Queen of Oz
Catherine Tate has tied with Australian indie Lingo Pictures for Queen of Oz, written in collaboration with her partner Jeff Gutheim.
The 6 x 30-minute series, based on an original idea from Tate and Borga Dorta, stars Tate as spoiled partygirl Georgiana, the black sheep of a fictional British royal family.
After her father abdicates his place on the Australian throne, Georgiana is parachuted in to lead a country in which she has no interest.
The show is created in in association with The Development Partnership and ABC Australia.
Tate will exec produce the series alongside producer Michele Bennett (Mr Inbetween), Lingo’s Helen Bowden (The Secrets She Keeps, Lambs of God), and the BBC’s Ben Caudell. Christiaan Van Vuuren (Dom and Adrian, A Sunburnt Christmas) will direct.
Petrie said that Tate’s work “has been enjoyed by millions over the years and we look forward to working with her on another hit for us”.
Bennett called it a “fabulously witty” series and said: “We know that British and Australians, as well as audiences around the world, are going to love this riotous take on royalty in Australia.”
Endeavour Content are distributing, with filming due to begin later this year in Australia.
No comments yet