David Farnor | On 10, Nov 2016

David Cross will write and direct a new comedy series for Sky Atlantic.

Called Bliss, the six-part series adds to Sky Atlantic’s new line-up of original comedy for 2017, which includes Sick Note and The Trip to Spain.

A co-production between Merman (Catastrophe, Divorce, Todd Margaret) and Big Talk Productions (Cold Feet, Mum), in association with David Cross’s Liberal Jew-Run Media Productions, the series brings together US and UK talent, with Stephen Mangan, Heather Graham and Jo Hartley (This Is England) signed on to star.

The series follows the complicated double life of Andrew (Mangan), a successful travel writer, who, through extenuating circumstances, finds himself living between two sets of wives and children, whose existences are unknown to each other. Andrew, in a constant state of moral crisis, must find a way to balance his time and energies between his wife, Kim (Graham), and teenage daughter, while travelling back and forth across Bristol to his other family, wife Denise (Hartley) and their teenage son. As Andrew’s two worlds become ever harder to contain, so does his sanity. And he finds himself going to increasingly drastic lengths to protect the two families he loves.

Stephen Mangan says: “I’ve always wanted two wives so this project is very close to my heart. And I get to work with the super-talent that is David Cross. I can’t wait.”

Bliss was commissioned for Sky by Jon Mountague and Zai Bennett, director of Sky Atlantic. It is written, directed and executive produced by David Cross, produced by Clelia Mountford for Merman and executive produced by Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice for Big Talk Productions and Sharon Horgan for Merman. Filming is scheduled to start in late November 2016 in London and Bristol.

“This project is unlike anything I’ve ever done before, in so far as I’ve never been to Bristol,” comments Cross. “Is it nice? Heard good things. Oh also there’s a scene that takes place in Weston-super-Mare, so there’s that.”

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