C4 Comedy commissions first original animation series, Happy Families

11 May 2011

Happy Families is a brand new, six-part animated sit-com by brothers Jack and Harry Williams (writers of Honest, The Amazing Dermot & Roman's Empire) commissioned by Comedy Commissioning Editor Nerys Evans.

A British animation with the ambition to rival the great, long-running American animated series, Happy Families is set in the heart of British suburbia where a family much like any other lives - well sort of.

Edgar, a put upon wage slave, works for his self obsessed, borderline-evil Father-In-Law Ken Lavender. Married to houseproud wife Wendy, they are parents to three very different children, freaky weirdo Dusty, amiable idiot Jason and highly strung 'Emo' Eve.

The artwork comes via the talented hand of Alex Scarfe, and is animated by LA-based Rough-Draft, the company behind Family Guy, Futurama and The Simpsons Movie.

Voice Cast includes the Bafta-award-winning Kayvan Novak (Facejacker), Simon Greenall (Alan Partridge), Rosie Cavaliero (Jam and Jerusalem), Lucy Montgomery (Bellamy's People) and Darren Boyd (Whites).

Comedy Commissioning Editor Nerys Evans said: ‘The combination of slick American animation with quintessentially British humour gives Happy Families a really distinctive feel. Not only is the dialogue laugh-out-loud funny, it's packed with fantastic celebrity cameos and satirical swipes at every turn.'

Writers Jack and Harry said: 'Channel 4 commissioning an animation on this scale shows just how committed they are to bringing something new to the comedy schedules. We're delighted to be working with Shane and Nerys on this fun and ambitious project. They're a rare breed of comedy commissioner - in that they have a sense of humour.'

Happy Families is produced by Squirrelman Productions.