STILL TO COME THIS YEAR IN COMEDY

A look ahead to some of the new and returning comedy series expected to air later this year.

Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special

BBC One

James Corden and Ruth Jones say: "Some news… It’s official!!! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James"

Outnumbered Christmas Special

BBC One

The stars of the original much-loved series are returning for the special including Hugh Dennis as dad Pete, Claire Skinner as mum Sue, Tyger Drew-Honey as eldest son Jake, Daniel Roche as the middle child Ben, and Ramona Marquez as the daughter, Karen.

In a moment of adversity, Sue and Pete gather all their offspring (including one grandchild) to try and celebrate a traditional family Christmas. But fate, neighbours, hyenas and bus replacement services get in their way.

Feet Like These with Alan Partridge (TBC)

BBC One

Alan is settling into life back in Norfolk after a year working in Saudi Arabia, but the adjustment has left him with a deep sense of unease. Seeing himself and his homeland anew, there are pressing and frankly glaring questions he’d like to ask of himself and, on behalf of himself, of the country.

One of the first - if not the first - documentary to address the issue of mental wellness, the six-part series follows the revered and beloved broadcaster on a quest to understand what’s going on, with Britain’s minds and his own. It’s a show that makes a statement that will create shockwaves: “I’m Alan Partridge, and I’m not OK.” Partridge will write, present and produce the series. He will also direct the series.

Ludwig (TBC)

BBC One

When John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s (David Mitchell) identical twin, James, disappears off the face of the earth, John takes over his brother’s identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts. John has never married, never had a family and never really ventured further than his own front door. Without a computer, mobile phone or even a television, he lives in quiet solitude, designing puzzles for a living, under the nom-de-plume of ‘Ludwig’.

However, filling the shoes of your identical twin is one thing - when your twin also happens to be a successful DCI leading Cambridge’s busy inner-city major crimes team the stakes are much higher. John may be a master of all things cryptic, but can he crack the biggest puzzle of his life?

Alma's Not Normal

BBC Two

Created, written by, starring and Executive Produced by Sophie Willan, Alma’s Not Normal (6 x 30) centres on Boltonian wild-child, Alma Nuthall and her family of eccentric, unruly women and was the creation of Sophie in 2018 when she was inaugural winner of the BBC’s Caroline Aherne Bursary Award.

The series, produced by Expectation, offers a bitingly funny and unflinching take on class, sexuality, mental health and substance abuse. It celebrates women dealing with the hands they’ve been dealt while doggedly pursing their dreams.

Changing Ends

ITV1

Changing Ends is based on Alan’s own life in Northampton in the 1980s growing up as the son of a fourth division football manager. The second series picks up shortly after the first as young Alan contends with impending puberty and feeling sidelined by his family - with Graham Carr distracted by Northampton Town FC who are battling for promotion, can he be there for his son when he most needs him?

Piglets

ITV1

This series follows a newly-recruited group of six very different would-be cops and the handful of key staff whose thankless task it is to knock them into some kind of shape. Heading up the cast are Sarah Parish and Mark Heap as no-nonsense Superintendent Julie Spry and some-nonsense Superintendent Bob Weekes, whose job it is to oversee the training of the next batch of new recruits.

Everyone Else Burns (TBC)

Channel 4

Jaded by the collapse of her university dreams (and 40 miserable days of ‘penance’), Rachel’s journey to independence will face new obstacles as old family secrets come to light. Meanwhile, Fiona’s (Kate O’Flynn) world will be turned on its head when she’s brought face-to-face with someone from her past that she’s desperate to forget. 

Aaron (Harry Connor) will unleash his inner Moses against the ‘snake’ at the top of the Chapter in a revolutionary bid to drag The Order into the present day. Finally, David (Simon Bird), disastrously, will decide to be a ‘good Dad’. He’ll also have to deal with an unprecedented new experience: a woman who’s earnestly interested in him.

Bad Tidings

Sky Max

Chris McCausland (The Wonders of the World I Can't See) and Lee Mack (Doctor Who, Inside No. 9, Brassic) star in Sky Original ‘Bad Tidings’, a mischievous festive special about two perpetually feuding neighbours in Stockport who become unlikely heroes, saving their street from notorious burglars with wacky booby traps and Great British banter.

Transmission details for all titles above will be announced in due course.