Channel 4 commissions Bad Sugar by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong

Channel4 today announced the commission of Bad Sugar, a half-hour comedy pilot to be produced by Tiger Aspect Productions.  Written by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, it stars three of the biggest female names in British Comedy - Olivia Colman, Julia Davis and Sharon Horgan - all of whom also co-conceived the idea.

Bad Sugar centres on a dysfunctional, wealthy mining dynasty, with an ailing patriarch and some greedy siblings.  It's a peculiarly British take on telenovela style melodramas, played for laughs. The programme also stars David Bradley, Peter Serafinowicz and Reece Shearsmith.

Nerys Evans C4 Comedy Commissioning Editor said "We're so delighted to have three of the country's funniest comedy actresses come together on this glorious project, it's beautifully written by Sam and Jesse, who are without a doubt the hottest comedy writers in the UK right now. If that mix of comedy talent wasn't tantalising enough, it's also directed by Ben Palmer, fresh from the record-breaking Inbetweeners Movie. To say we're excited by ‘Bad Sugar' is a bit of an understatement."

 Sophie Clarke-Jervoise, Exec Producer said "The process of bringing together such gigantic talent, both on and off screen, has been tremendously exciting. BAD SUGAR is a darkly comic world where anything can happen, and does!"

Writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong said "We've always wanted to write a show with poisonings, death threats, extreme psychological pain and big hair. With the help of the amazing cast we're hoping it might be what everyone in UK television has been waiting so long for - Grey Gardens, the sitcom."