Blooming marvellous! C4 confirms New Comedy Series Flowers

26 August 2015

Channel 4 today confirmed the commission of a darkly comedic new six-part series written and directed by BAFTA nominated writer and director Will Sharpe, starring Olivia Colman (Peep Show, Broadchurch, Rev) and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley, A Field in England). Flowers is produced by Kudos (Utopia, Humans, Broadchurch, The Hour, Life on Mars, Spooks) and is to be made in association with NBCU’s new comedy focused subscription VOD platform.

Flowers is an imaginative, cinematic comedy about an eccentric family, The Flowers, struggling to hold themselves together. Julian Barratt plays Maurice (author of twisted children’s books The Grubbs) and Olivia Colman plays Deborah (a music teacher); a husband and wife who are barely together but yet to divorce. As Maurice fights inner demons and dark secrets, Deborah tries to keep the family together at all costs and becomes increasingly suspicious that Maurice is in a secret homosexual relationship with his Japanese illustrator Shun (played by Will Sharpe).

They live in a creaky, messy, crumbling old house with Maurice's fruitcake mother Hattie (Leila Hoffman) and their maladjusted twenty five year old twins Amy (Sophia di Martino – Mount Pleasant, Friday Night Dinner) and Donald (Daniel Rigby - Eric and Ernie, Cardinal Burns, Undercover): both competing for the same girl and continually failing to burst through the confines of their absurdly arrested development.

Swinging from the magical to the mundane to the downright mad, the eccentric Flowers and their often self-inflicted crises, are surrounded by even stranger neighbours who become the agents of yet more everyday chaos and disaster.

Writer Will Sharpe said: "I feel very lucky to be making this show with Kudos and Channel 4. They have been unfailingly supportive and have pushed me to make bold decisions on a show that seeks both to celebrate and to challenge the traditional sitcom format. This is a comedy about people who are struggling and the situations that can arise when you refuse to admit that there are problems. Our aim is not to make light of the darkness, but to find the light within it."

Channel 4’s Deputy Head of Comedy, Nerys Evans said, “Flowers is the kind of deliciously dark comedy we love at Channel 4. The word dysfunctional doesn’t even come close to describing quite how brilliantly peculiar the Flowers family are. Will Sharpe’s genius coupled with an amazing cast has led us to an unbelievably original piece and we are delighted to have it on the channel.”

Naomi de Pear, who developed the series and will produce for Kudos said: ‘Flowers has an other-worldly quality to it, even though it’s about real characters and real emotions. I couldn’t be happier that Will brought this dark, hilarious and emotional vision through our doors and it’s been such a joy to develop and see it come to life with our extraordinary cast.”

The series is produced by Kudos (Humans. Utopia, Broadchurch,) and is presented by NBC Universal. Executive Produced by Kudos joint-CEO Diederick Santer with Naomi De Pear set to produce for Kudos. Flowers was commissioned by Phil Clarke, Channel 4’s Head of Comedy, and is due to TX in 2016.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Writer and director Will Sharpe garnered critical acclaim for his 2011 feature film debut Black Pond, which won Best Newcomer (Evening Standard Films Awards) and the Discovery Award (LOCO Film Festival), as well as being  nominated for Outstanding Debut (BAFTA), Best First Feature (Writer’s Guild Awards), The Guardian First Film Award, Best Comedy (Evening Standard Film Awards) and the Raindance Award (BIFAs). Will has just completed a second feature film called The Darkest Universe with frequent collaborator Tom Kingsley.

Daniel Rigby won the Best Actor BAFTA for Eric and Ernie.