17th January 2022
UKTV today announces Sneakerhead (3x30), a brand new scripted comedy for its award winning comedy entertainment channel Dave. The series will be produced by Roughcut Television and is written by BAFTA Scotland new talent writer Gillian Roger Park (The Young Offenders, Avenue5). The series will be led by People Just Do Nothing star Hugo Chegwin alongside grime artist Big Zuu, in his first television acting role, with Francesca Mills (Harlots), Alexa Davies (Dead Pixels), Lucia Keskin (Chi with a C) and Mark Silcox (Man like Mobeen).
Sneakerhead is a hilarious and contemporary workplace sitcom shining a light on young working life in Britain. Set in Peterborough, Russell (Hugo Chegwin) is one of the many longsuffering employees of Sports Depot. He is a certified sneakerhead, working there for the love of the trainers - he certainly isn't there for the money. The sitcom follows the hopeless, underpaid, demotivated but ultimately funny as hell working life of youth, cemented by camaraderie, and an ironic sense of flogging massive sports brands when they have no interest in sport.
Hugo Chegwin said,
So excited to be doing this show with some super talented people. I feel like a competition winner!
Big Zuu added,
I'm very gassed to be a part of Sneakerhead and to be working with Dave again. This is a first for me, venturing into acting, so I'm really excited to get started!
Sneakerhead is commissioned for UKTV by Sarah Asante, commissioning editor, comedy and ordered for Dave by Cherie Cunningham, channel director and Pete Thornton, head of scripted. Richard Watsham is director of commissioning for UKTV and Steve North is genre general manager, comedy and entertainment. Sneakerhead is directed by Simon Neal (Chewing Gum, Youngers) and produced by Steve Monger. Executive producers for Roughcut Television are Alex Smith and Ash Atalla.
Sarah Asante said,
Sneakerhead shines a dim but funny light on the plight of the modern-day retail worker. Gillian has done a wonderful job bringing this world to life as we follow the relatable mistakes from this enterprising bunch of misfits as they navigate how to dream big with empty pockets and zero interest in the merch they're selling. Hugo is on excellent form as the laid back, unlucky in love, accidental manager and we are excited to present Big Zuu in his first network acting role as the ever hopeful, part-time entrepreneur and future millionaire, Mulenga.
Cherie Cunningham said,
We're so excited to bring Sneakerhead to Dave audiences next year. This new comedy fully delivers on our ambition to bring the freshest and funniest comedy entertainment to our audience. Sneakerhead is relatable, authentic, full of character, and it highlights how laughter is a damn good antidote to the messiness of modern life.
Alex Smith, Head of Scripted, Roughcut Television, added,
We said we'd never work with the Kurupt FM boys again but here we are teaming up with Hugo for a proper funny, super-modern look at the world of discount sporting goods. And we've added Big Zuu for extra chaos. Our first venture with Dave, Roughcut are really excited about Sneakerhead - a brilliant cast, proper laughs, cool trainers - what's not to love..?
Sneakerhead joins a host of new comedy on Dave in 2022, including The Island, hosted by Tom Allen, recently announced We Are Not Alone, and returning series' Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, Hypothetical and Meet The Richardsons.
Sneakerhead will air on Dave and UKTV Play in 2022.
For more information, please contact:
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About Dave
Sky 111/811, Virgin 127/194, Freesat 157, Freeview, BT & TalkTalk 19, Freesat 157 Dave is the award-winning entertainment channel home to a veritable feast of UKTV Original comedy hits from some of the biggest stars in the UK. Comedy entertainment shows like BAFTA-nominated Big Zuu's Big Eats, Outsiders, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, Late Night Mash, Hypothetical, Comedians Giving Lectures, Question Team, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, The Island and British As Folk sit alongside scripted comedies such as Meet The Richardsons and Red Dwarf.
But Dave isn't just restricted to television screens. There's exclusive online content, with Youtube's Big Zuu's Wrap Clash and Who Cares? With Amelia Dimoldenberg, as well as Facebook series The Comedy Guide To Life, Bad Advice with Olga Koch and BackChat. Dave's partnership with CALM has led to exclusive commissions and innovative online and marketing campaigns such as #BeTheMateYoudWant. Dave is the proud sponsor of Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards and also crowns its yearly Joke Of The Edinburgh Fringe every August.
About UKTV
UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 25 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to audiences through UKTV Play, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat and Amazon Fire. The broadcaster is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers. UKTV is part of BBC Studios, the UK's most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world's leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.
corporate.uktv.co.uk | press.uktv.co.uk | @uktvpress
About UKTV Play
About UKTV Play UKTV Play is an on demand TV service providing instant access to shows from UKTV's free-to-air channels - Dave, Yesterday and Drama. With the easy-to-use UKTV Play app you can browse and stream hundreds of shows for free via your computer, tablet or smart phone. You can also watch on the telly thanks to Freeview Play, Amazon Fire TV, YouView, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Freesat, NOW and Roku. If you're a Sky, Virgin Media or BT TV customer, shows from other great UKTV channels - Gold, W, Alibi, and Eden - are also on the menu.
About Roughcut TV
Roughcut Television is one of the UK's fastest growing independent production companies and one of the biggest producers of scripted comedy. The company is rapidly expanding into drama with script commissions for various broadcasters.
Established in 2007 by Ash Atalla and Tim Sealey, the company has been leading the comedy space with multi award-winning productions that include; three-time BAFTA award-winning STATH LETS FLATS (Channel 4), two-time BAFTA winning PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING, CUCKOO (BBC3), TROLLIED (SKY1) and JERK (BBC3). Roughcut's first feature - PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING: BIG IN JAPAN was released in UK cinemas nationwide in summer 2021. The first series of BLOODS, aired on Sky1 in May 2021 and starred BAFTA-nominated Samson Kayo (Famalam, Timewasters) and Golden Globe-nominated Jane Horrocks (Absolutely Fabulous, Little Voice). BLOODS is set to return to SKY1 in the UK with a further ten episodes in 2022 while the first series streamed to huge critical acclaim on Hulu in the US, Dec 2021.
STATH LETS FLATS aired on C4 in October 2021, while series one aired on HBO MAX in the US in November 2020. JERK 2, starring Tim Renkow, Sharon Rooney, Rob Madin and Lorraine Bracco aired on BBC One and BBC Three in August. FOX is developing a US format of the show called BREN RENTS.
Filming wrapped last year on BIG BOYS, a new series written and narrated by Jack Rooke and starring Dylan Llewellyn, Jonathan Pointing and Camille Coduri for C4 and set to air Spring 2022.
Previous successes include TROLLIED for Sky One, which broke records as the highest-rated multichannel comedy launch in British TV history. Roughcut TV also made US-based multi-cam comedy I LIVE WITH MODELS (Comedy Central), HOSPITAL PEOPLE (BBC1), CARTERS GET RICH (SKY1) TOP COPPERS, a cop film spoof (BBC3) and WORLD'S CRAZIEST FOOLS (BBC3), starring Mr. T. In addition, Roughcut TV has made pilots for US formats of CUCKOO for NBC and PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING for Amazon.