Us and Them is a 6x40" commission for Gold, part of UKTV's portfolio of channels, and tells the story of Lauren and Ed who are madly in love, despite their 20 plus-year age gap. The only problem is that Lauren's family and everyone around them seems to have an opinion on the subject. Ed?s ex-wife Lydia rents the house opposite the couple, Lauren?s family are constantly meddling and Ed?s friends think she's a trophy girlfriend. You can choose your partner but you can't choose your family.
The series, produced by Hat Trick Productions (Outnumbered, Spy, Father Ted, Have I Got News For You, Room 101, Some Girls, Facejacker), marks Gold's debut with an original scripted sitcom and forms part of the channel's bold commissioning strategy, investing in fresh and unique content.
UKTV's director of Commissioning, Jane Rogerson said "I'm over the moon that Jimmy and Helen have brought Gold this project. The scripts are laugh out loud funny. This is an exciting progression of our commissioning strategy on Gold following The Comic Strip Presents: Five Go To Rehab, Bring me Morecambe and Wise, Yes, Prime Minister and Jo Brand's Great Wall of Comedy."
Steve North, General Manager, Gold, added, "US and Them is funny, engaging and a perfect fit for Gold's audience. We are in talks with a number of high profile actors to play the lead roles and look forward to welcoming a stellar cast to the channel. UKTV's investment in Gold is really starting to pay off and we are confident that this new series will appeal to our viewers."
Commissioning Editor, Comedy, Sarah Fraser commented ?We are delighted to be working with some of the best on and off screen British comedy talent out there and are really looking forward to seeing these twisted family tales come to life.?
Us and Them has been commissioned by UKTV's Director of Commissioning Jane Rogerson, Commissioning Editor, Sarah Fraser, and ordered by Gold's General Manager, Steve North. The Executive Producer is Helen Williams and the Producer is Angela Sinden.
Jimmy Mulville, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Hat Trick Productions states, "It's great that UKTV are now venturing into commissioning original comedy and even better that they have chosen Hat Trick's Us and Them, written by the brilliant Steve Turner, as the first series created specifically for Gold. We're thrilled and honoured and hope this is the start of great things to come."
This announcement comes after a year in which Gold has achieved great success with its original commissions. The Comic Strip Presents: Five Go To Rehab was the channel's highest rating show of 2012, attracting 629K viewers to its premiere episode and brand new episodes of Yes, Prime Minister have been up 70% on slot average and achieved critical-acclaim.
For more information, please contact:
Laura McTurk, Publicity Manager, Entertainment, 020 7299 6261
laura.mcturk@uktv.co.uk
@uktv_press
Kerry Parker, Senior Corporate Communications Manager, 020 7745 3036
kerry.parker@uktv.co.uk
@uktv_press
Notes to Editors
About Gold
Dedicated to celebrating the best of British comedy, Gold is the nation's favourite comedy channel. Much-loved comedy series such as Only Fools and Horses, Vicar of Dibley and Outnumbered sit alongside successful commissions including Fry and Laurie: Reunited, Royle Family Behind the Sofa, the highly anticipated return of Yes, Prime Minister and the successful commission The Comic Presents Five Go To Rehab, plus new acquisitions such as Gavin and Stacey, Getting On, Miranda and Mrs Brown?s Boys. The perfect tonic to make you laugh whatever the time of day, Gold shows universally funny content that everyone can enjoy so stick something funny on.
Where to find Gold: Sky channel 110, Virgin TV channel 126, and Top-Up TV channel 20.
About UKTV
UKTV is a major industry player and one of the most important and successful multichannel providers in the UK. Formed in 1997, it is an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. (NYSE: SNI).
Attracting over 41 million viewers each month, the network consists of 10 distinctive channel brands ? Watch, Gold, Dave, alibi, Yesterday, Blighty, Eden, Home, Really and Good Food ? offering a broad range of quality programming across entertainment, lifestyle and factual. UKTV currently operates 25 broadcast streams when its eight multiplexes and five HD channels are taken into account, and 11 highly successful websites. The network also runs video on demand (VOD) services on Sky and BT Vision and is part of TalkTalk on YouView. In addition, UKTV recently launched its own ?On Demand? services with Dave On Demand and Yesterday On Demand.
UKTV's successful programming strategy combines high profile original commissions and key acquisitions with quality content from the BBC.
All UKTV channels are distributed on Sky and Virgin Media. Dave, Really and Yesterday are also available on Freeview.