Damned if you do, Damned if you don't

25 May 2016

Starring Jo Brand (Getting On) and Alan Davies (Bob & Rose, Jonathan Creek) DAMNED is a new six part comedy series for Channel 4 that begins filming next month. Based around the lives of two rather jaded social workers, it is a sharply written, warmly comical and frequently poignant observation on what it means to try your best amidst the most frustrating of circumstances.

Social workers Rose (Brand) and Al (Davies) work in a children’s services department, dealing every day with the all too familiar social issues that flood the media. Swimming against a tide of bureaucracy and pedantry, and contending with the absurdities and irrationalities of life in a county council office, DAMNED follows Al and Rose as they navigate their way through their equally trying professional and personal lives.

Also starring Morwenna Banks (Skins, The Thick of It, Miss You Already), Kevin Eldon (Game of Thrones, Nighty Night), Himesh Patel (Eastenders), Georgie Glen (Waterloo Road), Aisling Bea (2014 British Comedy Award for Best Female TV Comedian) and Marjorie Yates (Shameless).

A sitcom that’s more bitter than sweet, and shot through with the dark humour that rears its head in any job which is stressful and harrowing, DAMNED (6 x 30’) is written by writer/performers Jo Brand, Morwenna Banks and Will Smith (Veep, The Thick of It).

"As the daughter of a social worker, who worked for many years in child protection, I grew up seeing social workers go unrecognised for the good things they did and castigated for the bad. It’s like being a traffic warden without the perks. Damned is an attempt to portray the tragic-comic lives of social workers, always under pressure, always in possession of a grim sense of humour and always wrong in the eyes of the public." Says Jo Brand.

Nerys Evans, Deputy Head of Comedy at Channel 4, says: “We are thrilled to be working with Jo, Morwenna and Will on this brilliant bittersweet series. The series highlights some of the challenges and dilemmas facing front line social workers in this time of austerity. The characters are warm, honest and human and often have their own set of challenges outside of the office as well.”

Claire Whalley, producer, says: “It is really exciting to be working with such brilliant writers who have the ability to bring humour to some of life’s most difficult and challenging subjects and to create a fresh, new comedy which comes out of the real world”.

DAMNED was commissioned by Phil Clarke, Head of Comedy at Channel 4 and Nerys Evans, Deputy Head of Comedy at Channel 4. Produced by What Larks Productions, the series producer is Claire Whalley (Brilliantman!, Perspectives). The series is directed by Ian Fitzgibbon (Raised by Wolves, Moone Boy). DAMNED is created by Jo Brand and Morwenna Banks.