Not Safe for Work

Written by DC Moore, a former star of Channel 4’s new talent strand Coming Up, Not Safe for Work is a highly original and inventive 6-part workplace comedy drama for Channel 4 that is both a deft portrait of a generation struggling with the realities of 21st century work life and a warm exploration of the camaraderie and friendships that can bloom in times of difficulty.

Zawe Ashton (Fresh Meat, Dreams of a Life) stars as Katherine a civil servant, reluctantly relocated from London to Northampton as part of public sector cuts. Recently divorced and troubled by secrets in her past, her relocation may just be the last straw for her.

Things are made even more difficult for Katherine when she realises she’ll be working with Anthony, played by Tom Weston Jones. Cited in Katherine’s divorce papers, their relationship is complicated to say the least… Sacha Dhawan plays the perma-wasted Danny, a chancer who has somehow found himself managing Katherine’s new office after he pretended to be a devout Muslim. Struggling to work around his fondness for drink and drugs, he’s constantly led astray by his feisty PA, Angela, played Jo Hartley, a terrible influence… Sophie Rundle plays Jenny, irrepressibly and irritatingly upbeat. Jenny is a ball of energy with a relentlessly sunny disposition that hides a profound vulnerability. Meanwhile Nathanial, played by Samuel Barnett, is naïve and well meaning, trying his best to do his job, but never quite certain what his job actually involves. Sian Brooke plays Martine, the minister’s closest adviser who’s sent in from London to scrutinise the team’s policy plans. Anastasia Hille joins the cast as a shell-shocked Jeffries, head of Human Resources and responsible for Katherine and Danny’s relocation. She’s as surprised as everyone else to find herself on the receiving end of her own wave of cuts. Behind her stoical and affable nature, and with her own problems at home, she’s as lost as everyone else.

Full of black humour, razor sharp dialogue and intricately drawn relationships, Not Safe for Work is a timely comedy drama which cuts straight to the quick of a lost generation.

The series is created and written by DC Moore and executive produced by Murray Ferguson and Andy Baker for Clerkenwell Films. The producer is Jemma Rodgers. The directors are Kieron Hawkes and Robert McKillop. Not Safe for Work is commissioned by Piers Wenger, Head of Drama at Channel 4.