BBC Three renews Back to Life for Season 2
David Farnor | On 20, Nov 2019
BBC Three is coming Back to Life again, with the dark comedy renewed for a second season.
Created by and starring Daisy Haggard (Black Mirror, Uncle) – and co-written by Haggard and Perrier award-winner Laura Solon (Office Christmas Party) – the six-part series details Miri Matterson’s return to her seaside family home, having spent 18 years in prison for a crime committed during her formative years. Following her first few weeks on the outside, Miri, now a determined yet naïve adult, attempts to put the past behind her in order to have a normal life.
Season 2 is commissioned for by BBC Three and Showtime, in association with All3Media. The series is produced by multi-award-winning production company, Two Brothers Pictures (Fleabag, Baptiste, Liar, The Missing) in co-production with BBC Three and Showtime Networksz Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning and Fiona Campbell, Controller for BBC Three, gave the green light, along with Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. Haggard will reprise her role as Miri Matteson.
She says: “Laura and I are delighted that Showtime and the BBC are giving us a chance to continue Miri’s story. There’s so much more to tell and we are incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to do that!”
Harry Williams, Writer and Managing Director, Two Brothers Pictures, says: “The reception that Back To Life has received has been amazing. Daisy and Laura are those rare writers that can make you laugh and cry in equal measure – which is a wonderful quality. We can’t wait for fans to see what they have in store for Miri this time around.”
Kate Daughton, Head of Comedy, BBC, adds: “BBC Three’s job is to champion the next wave of ambitious and talented writers. We’ve struck gold with Daisy and Laura.”
Geraldine James and Adeel Akhtar join BBC Three’s Back to Life
17th November 2018
Geraldine James and Adeel Akhtar will co-star in Back to Life, Daisy Haggard’s new comedy for BBC Three.
Haggard (Black Mirror, Uncle) will play the lead role of Miri Matteson alongside James (Sherlock Holmes), Akhtar (Murdered By My Father), Richard Durden (Harlots), Jamie Michie (Game of Thrones), Liam Williams (Pls Like), Souad Faress (Bridget Jones’s Baby), Jo Martin (Been So Long), Christine Bottomley (The End of the F***ing World) and Frank Feys (A Perfect Day).
Written by Haggard and Laura Solon (Perrier Comedy Award winner), the comedy drama follows Miri Matteson (Haggard), a woman who did a very bad thing a long time ago. So bad, in fact, that she went to prison for 18 years because of it. The series follows Miri’s first few weeks out of prison navigating her way as a naïve but determined Adult Beginner, trying (and frequently failing) to lead a normal life in her picturesque but claustrophobic seaside hometown. We’ll see her attempts to rekindle old relationships, make new ones, look for work and readjust to life outside, while desperately waiting for the world to forget about what happened that fateful night.
Guiding Miri as she tries to adapt to life outside are a cast of offbeat and intriguing characters with secrets all of their own, including her sexually frustrated mother Caroline (James), her recycling obsessive father Oscar (Durden) and her parole officer without a verbal filter, Janice (Martin). We’ll also meet first love Dom (Michie), ex-best friend Mandy (Bottomley), next door neighbor Billy (Akhtar) and chip shop owner Nathan (Williams).
The six-part series is produced by Debbie Pisani and directed by Christopher Sweeney. The Executive Producers are Harry and Jack Williams alongside Sarah Hammond for Two Brothers Pictures, and Daisy Haggard, Laura Solon and Christopher Sweeney. Kate Daughton is the Commissioning Editor for the BBC. Back to Life was commissioned by Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy commissioning and Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three.
Allen says: “The nimble story-telling dazzles and hooks you in right from scene one. Miri is a terrific creation as the viewer’s empathy ebbs and flows depending on our perception of what she might have done. It’s a distinctive world of intriguing characters and laced through with off-beat humour. This series cements BBC Three’s reputation as the vital place to try out ambitious new forms and tones of narrative.”
Two Brothers Pictures adds: “We’re delighted to be working with Daisy and Laura on Back To Life. They have crafted a hugely compelling, funny and moving world that will have viewers hooked from the start.”
Back to Life: BBC Three orders new comedy from Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon
24th June 2018
BBC Three has commissioned Back to Life, a new comedy from Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon.
Written by the duo, Back To Life follows Miranda Thomas (Haggard), a woman who committed a terrible crime many years ago. It was a catastrophic mistake, one she paid for with well over a decade in prison. When we meet her, she has just returned to her family home, aged 36, with no job, no friends and no choice but to move back in with her parents. Miranda is desperate to move on, put the past behind her and get back to her life; but, in a small-town where her crime is the most dramatic thing that has ever happened, will anyone let her?
The six-part series is produced by Debbie Pisani and directed by Christopher Sweeney. The Executive Producers are Harry and Jack Williams alongside Sarah Hammond for Two Brothers Pictures, and Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon. Kate Daughton is the Commissioning Editor for the BBC.
It was ordered by Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning and Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, and forms part of a new wave of comedy commissions the Beeb, with a particular focus on nurturing new talent on BBC Three.
hane Allen, Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning, says: “The last few years in BBC Comedy have been a boom time for new talent with multi-award winning shows including Fleabag, This Country, The Young Offenders and People Just Do Nothing. These are shows that have taken a risk on new talent, which have resulted in comedy from the heart that has a very real sense of place and with characters you grow to care about – who earn those emotional twists and turns.
“In a world where there’s more competition for established talent from an array of competitors we want to broaden and cement our commitment to finding the very best of new wave talent and how we’re going to achieve that is through a comprehensive talent ladder to provide opportunity to an array of emerging voices and performers.”
Other BBC Three orders this week include a second season of Pls Like, a trio of new Comedy Slice pilots and short-form strand Threesomes.