Friday Night Dinner wins full series commission

Channel 4 Comedy and Entertainment Commissioning Editor, Darren Smith, has commissioned Big Talk Productions’ and Popper Pictures new single-camera comedy, Friday Night Dinner, to full series.

Friday Night Dinner stars Tamsin Greig (Green Wing, Black Books), Simon Bird (The Inbetweeners), Paul Ritter (Pulling) and comedy newcomer, Tom Rosenthal.

Each episode takes place over the course of a Friday night, as twenty-something brothers Adam (Simon Bird) and Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) go round to their parents’ house for Friday night dinner.

Many Jewish families – who aren’t even remotely religious – have a tradition of Friday Night Dinner. It’s a time for food, family and general bickering. Sometimes candles are lit.  Think Sunday lunch. Then take two days away, and move up one in the meal scale, and that’s the setting. 

Friday Night Dinner is written and produced by Robert Popper, co-creator of BBC2’s Look Around You and author of the best-selling The Timewaster Letters. He also produced the BAFTA-winning Peep Show, and script-edited The Inbetweeners and The IT Crowd.

Darren Smith said “The pilot proved so strong with its brilliant script and fantastically talented cast that we couldn’t resist in commissioning it to full series.  It’s both clever and funny and is likely to be a real comedy gem.”

Robert Popper said “I want the show to capture the way we all revert to being kids again when we go round to our parents’. But it’s also pretty autobiographical, i.e. it features a dad who drinks ketchup straight from the bottle, just like mine.”

As a former Comedy Commissioning Editor at Channel 4, Robert commissioned Bo’ Selecta!, helped develop The IT Crowd, oversaw two series of Black Books, and series 2 of Spaced.

Directed by Steve Bendelack (The Royle Family, The League Of Gentlemen) Friday Night Dinner will be executive produced by Big Talk Productions Chief Executives, Kenton Allen (The Royle Family) and Nira Park (Spaced).

Friday Night Dinner will air on E4.

Selected Coverage

-Tamsin Greig and Pulling’s Paul Ritter to star in Channel 4 comedy [John Plunkett] guardian.co.uk, 12th February, 2010

The production company behind Spaced and Shaun of the Dead has been commissioned to produce a new Channel 4 comedy starring Tamsin Greig, The Inbetweeners’ Simon Bird and Pulling’s Paul Ritter.

Friday Night Dinner, a single-camera comedy, has been written by Robert Popper, former producer of Peep Show and co-creator of BBC2’s Look Around You. It will be made by Big Talk Productions, which made Spaced, and Popper Pictures. [read more]

-C4 orders full series of Popper sitcom [Robin Parker] Broadcast, 12th February, 2010

Robert Popper’s semi-autobiographical E4 sitcom pilot Friday Night Dinner has been picked up for a full series on Channel 4. [read more]

-Friday Night Dinner date for Bird chortle.co.uk, 12th February, 2010

Inbetweeners comic Simon Bird and Green Wing’s Tamsin Greig are to star in a new family sitcom for Channel 4.

Bird will appear opposite fellow Chortle Student Comedy Award finalist Tom Rosenthal in Friday Night Dinner, which has been created by Peep Show producer Robert Popper.

A pilot was shot for E4, but not yet aired, but the single-camera comedy has now been picked up for a full Channel 4 series.[read more]

- Big Talk signs deal with Optimum. First joint project will be ‘Attack the Block’ [Ali Jaafar] Variety, Thursday October 29th, 2009

Brit shingle Big Talk has inked a co-financing and co-production pact with U.K. distrib and producer Optimum Releasing.
It’s the latest sign of Optimum’s desire to ramp up production and become a major player in the British film industry.

The deal will also include pubcaster Channel 4’s production arm Film4, with whom Big Talk has had a partial first-look deal for the past two years. [read more...]

Young, Unemployed and Lazy Site Launches

Big Talk’s latest television comedy will shortly be launching it’s production diaries at http://www.youngunemployedandlazy.co.uk – a regular look behind the scenes of Young, Unemployed & Lazy – a new comedy coming to BBC3 starring Russell Tovey (Being Human) and Sarah Solemani (Suburban Shootout, Roman’s Empire)

**Be sure to check back soon for video diaries and exclusive content from behind the scenes of Young, Unemployed and Lazy!**