Our new comedy line-up continues apace with a school comedy unlike any other.
Sky1 HD today started production on a brand new six part comedy titled Gates, which aims to explore the funnier side of school life for parents and kids alike.
Gates is an ensemble comedy headed by Sue Johnston (The Royle Family, Waking The Dead), Tom Ellis (Miranda, Merlin) and Joanna Page (Gavin and Stacey, Love Actually) set in the all too familiar chaos of the school gates.
Ellis and Page play parents Mark and Helen who’ve recently moved to the South East where their nine-year-old daughter is starting at a new primary school.
And they’re about to discover what happens when your children choose your friends.
Essentially a character comedy, but with a nod to those sketch-like moments of madness which can only ever happen in the playground, GATES casts an eye on how relationships with parents formed during fifteen minutes of a school drop off and pick up can so easily take over your life. The school gates can be an unforgiving, socially exposed political minefield.
Laurence Bowen said: “The school drop off and pick up is a world we all know, either as parents or as children. So creating a comedy series out of it has been wonderful fun and should strike a chord with people. Sky commissioned and backed it from inception, and we’re delighted such a wonderful cast have been attracted to the scripts.”
Joanna Page said: "I'm so excited to begin filming with such a fantastic cast on GATES. As soon as I read the scripts I could completely identify with my character Helen, and I'm looking forward to the world of the school run and the politics, games and mayhem that go with it. Tom Ellis is a hunk of a husband to be working opposite and my maternal instincts are being brought out working with my adorable daughter. It should be a great shoot."
Co-written by Abigail Wilson (Jam and Jerusalem), Richard Preddy (Green Wing, Harry and Paul), Andrew Collins (Not Going Out), Dan Sefton (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) and award winning stand up Ava Vidal. Episode One was script edited by Jennifer Saunders.
