David Farnor | On 08, Dec 2018

Andie MacDowell will join Greg Davies in the new season of Cuckoo, coming soon to BBC Three.

Andie will replace Taylor Lautner, who has played Dale in the hit series for three seasons as the title Cuckoo character. Series four saw Dale leave Lichfield as the end of the series after he and Rachel leave to go travelling to Sierra Leone. Just as Ken Thompson thought the chaos of Cuckoo was behind him, the sister he never knew he had Ivy (Andie MacDowell) arrives…

Taylor Lautner says: “I’m so happy I get to pass my Cuckoo baton to someone as talented as Andie. She’ll do a great job keeping the Thompson family on their toes! I’ll miss everyone on the show – not least Chief Ken. But not all goodbyes are forever.”

Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, adds: “We’re delighted that Andie MacDowell will be joining the cast of Cuckoo for Series 5. Following Taylor’s hugely popular stint on the show, Andie will bring a different flavour to the show and it’s incredibly exciting to see a talent of Andie’s calibrate joining the brilliant existing cast for what will be another memorable slice of life with the Thompson family in Lichfield.”

Season 5 is directed by Ben Gregor, produced by Izzy Mant and Exec Produced by Emma Lawson, Dan Hine and Ash Atalla. Season 5 is created by Robin French and Kieron Quirke, and written by Robin French, Kieron Quirke and Paul Doolan.

Shane Allen, Controller, Comedy Commissioning, comments: “Cuckoo’s successful series regeneration of the lead protagonist makes it the Doctor Who of comedy. It’s a real badge of quality for the show that the writing continues to attract the very cream of Hollywood talent to the Midlands”

Cuckoo will premiere on BBC Three at 10am on Friday 4th January as a boxset, and will air weekly on BBC One at 11:35pm from Friday 4th January.

 

BBC Three renews Cuckoo for Season 4 and 5

5th April 2016

BBC Three’s Cuckoo has been renewed for another two seasons.

The award-winning comedy, which stars Greg Davies, Taylor Lautner, Tyger Drew-Honey, Esther Smith and Helen Baxendale and is produced by Roughcut Television, will be back to Lichfield for a fourth and fifth run.

Written by Robin French and Kieron Quirke, Cuckoo’s third season was one of BBC Three’s flagship launch titles when the online channel went live in February. Since then, it has has been a permanent fixture in BBC iPlayer’s Most Popular chart.

“Slightly old-fashioned yet with a modern and sometimes surreal twist, [Cuckoo] revives the genre and gives it fresh appeal,” we wrote in our review of the show’s current run. “Greg Davies continues to delight and appall in equal measure… Taylor Lautner gives a winning performance as the naive and good-natured Dale Junior.”

All episodes of Season 3 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer as a box set until August 2016 – with BBC Three also hosting a bunch of extras to stream, including Greg quizzing Taylor about his Britishness.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, comments: “Cuckoo is brilliant, it’s coming back to BBC Three for two new series. What’s not to love about that? BBC Three is all about backing the best original British comedy that young people love, and they love Cuckoo.”

Season 4 and 5 were commissioned by Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning, and Kavanagh, along with executive producers Ash Atalla, MD for Roughcut Television, Dan Hine, and producer Emma Lawson.

Shane Allen, Controller of BBC Comedy, adds: “Cuckoo has proved itself as a monster BBC Three hit with plenty more comedy gas in the tank. It is world-class in the writing, performance and direction and a great sign of what BBC Three can achieve.”

Long-form comedy remains a “huge priority” for the online TV channel, assures Allen, with BBC Three aiming to back 10 series a year featuring new British comedy talent.

The seven-part series has also proved popular with audiences on BBC One, with all BBC Three originals required to be repeated on either BBC One or BBC Two after their initial release.

Hine, executive producer for Roughcut, comments: “Like anxious parents, we watched Cuckoo leap into the brave new world of BBC Three online but we needn’t have worried. We’re delighted it connected with such a wide audience. The response to this series has been outstanding, which is testament to our hugely talented cast and crew. We can’t wait to engineer another few rounds of mayhem for Dale, Chief Ken and the rest of the Thompson clan.”

Production on the fourth season will begin later this year.

Already finished Cuckoo Season 3? For more on what’s worth watching on the online channel, see our BBC Three reviews.

Photo: BBC/Roughcut Television

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