Rob Brydon stars in new BBC comedy Bill's Included | Preview
Written by Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen and produced by Baby Cow, the show follows Bill Beam (Rob Brydon), a well‑meaning but over‑enthusiastic divorcee who rents his spare rooms to students to stay afloat.
When Bill’s wife walks out on him for the gardener, he’s left lonely and broke. In the hope of turning his life around, he lets out his spare rooms to four students. Bill is thrilled to meet his new housemates: Christian, Zahra, Hettie, and James. But when Christian keeps leaving the fridge door open, Bill has to come up with a scheme to get it shut without ruining his image as a relaxed, fun landlord.
Bill’s best mate, Drew, gives him the idea to deploy an anonymous suggestions box, but this backfires when the students’ requests lead to the worst night’s sleep of his life. Bill’s neighbour and secret crush, Siobhan, suggests sending over her intimidating husband, Martin, to complain on Bill’s behalf, but when this ruse is exposed, Bill fears the students will leave him, just like his wife did.
He’s grateful to learn that not only do they have nowhere else to live but they forgive him, since university is all about starting over. For better or worse, his new life truly has begun.
Episode 2: Bill’s exciting new life comes crashing down when he learns that his lodgers have given themselves nicknames but left him out. Hurt, Bill ramps up his eccentricities in the hope of providing the inspiration for a new moniker, only for his odd behaviour to confirm the students’ suspicion that they’re living with a weirdo.
Episode 3: Bill is thrilled to have been included in group watchalongs of the students’ TV obsession, House of Keys. So when Hettie suggests they have a party for the series finale, Bill is on cloud nine and happily offers to run the lodgers into town for various errands.
But when the favours start to add up, he realises he is being taken advantage of and experiments with saying ‘no’ - which frees his schedule for DIY hobbies. Meanwhile, Zahra challenges Christian’s claims that he knows how to do laundry, and Hettie agrees to her boyfriend’s suggestion of an open relationship.
Bill’s firm boundaries with the lodgers backfires when they meet smug PhD student Marcus, who starts giving them lifts to campus and fixing all their problems big and small, and Bill feels replaced as the house’s wise font of wisdom.
Episode 4: When Bill finds out that his ex-wife Anne and the gardener she ran off with are planning to marry, he realises that he should move on romantically too. So he asks Christian to help him join dating apps, who insists Bill presents an idealised version of himself through a series of white lies about his intellectual credentials.
Meanwhile, Hettie is frustrated that her boyfriend Nathan doesn’t appreciate how much their open relationship is upsetting her, so she plans to ‘fake flirt’ with James in front of him at a club night.
Episode 5: It’s the morning after the group’s calamitous night out, and the house is tense. Whilst Hettie and James try to work out who Nathan snogged, a guilt-stricken Zahra agonises over whether to come clean that it was her. Christian unhelpfully revels in the drama, whilst the hungover Bill has no clue about the unfolding intrigue and laments that the lodgers are so on edge.
Episode 6: Bill responds to the twist of Siobhan’s move abroad with the emotional crutch of a new sports car. But when the students rib him for splurging their rent, he claims that his uncle gave him the car, a lie that is immediately put under stress by the news that Hettie is moving into halls. But, without her rent, Bill can’t afford the car’s monthly payments.
Bill scrambles to find a new tenant, but when the university’s accommodation office provides only dreadful candidates that the other students reject, he’s forced into drastic action. Dropping Hettie off on campus, he gets the idea to appear on the popular TikTok hotspots, advertising the spare room to a big student audience.
Joining the cast are Samantha Spiro (Waiting for the Out) and Nigel Lindsay (Mobland) as Bill’s neighbours, Siobhan and Martin, Kevin Eldon (Inside No 9) as record store owner Drew. Dylan Brady (Mary & George), Ada Player (The Power of Parker), Harry Baxendale (The Radleys) and Yasmin Al-Khudhairi (A Good Girls Guide to Murder) join the cast as students Christian, Hettie, James and Zahra.
Rob Brydon says: “I feel very lucky to be part of Bills Included. Alex Owen and Ben Ashenden have written some truly wonderful scripts and I can’t wait to help bring them to life.”
Rupert Majendie Executive Producer at Baby Cow productions says: “Bill’s Included is exactly the kind of show we love making at Baby Cow. Big, character driven comedy with real emotional truth at its core. It’s full of brilliantly funny performances, led by the incomparable Rob Brydon. We are so excited for everyone to meet Bill.”
Jon Petrie, BBC Director of Comedy says: “Rob Brydon has given us some of Britain's most beloved TV characters over the years and we’re about to get another one! Paired with the razor-sharp writing talent of Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen, Bill's Included delivers exactly what audiences want - a warm, character-driven sitcom with genuine laughs and heart at its core. We're delighted to have this on BBC iPlayer and BBC One and can't wait for audiences to move in with Bill and his lodgers."
Rupert Majendie, Executive Producer at Baby Cow productions says: “From the beginning, we knew this was a show we wanted to make – a perfect sitcom set-up with a sharp, contemporary twist. With its mix of heart, originality and beautifully observed characters, it feels like a classic Baby Cow show. Ben and Alex have written something properly special, and with Rob at the centre of a brilliant ensemble, we can’t wait to bring it to life”
Bill’s Included begins Friday 20th November at 9:30pm on BBC One.
