Big send-off for Friday Night Dinner

Documentary to mark ten years of the sitcom, as producer says no more episodes are planned

Channel 4 is to celebrate a decade of Friday Night Dinner – after it was revealed that the long-running sitcom will probably not return.

The broadcaster will dedicate a full night’s programming to the comedy revolving around a 90-minute documentary that will include previously unseen behind-the -scenes footage and outtakes.

Stars Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and, Mark Heap will also share anecdotes from the show in the documentary, provisionally titled You Look Nice: The True Story of Friday Night Dinner.

The programme will trace the sitcom rise from a five- minute pilot, shot in creator Robert Popper’s parent’s house - where his actual dad walked into the middle of a scene to announce, ‘I’m going out now to buy some bin liners’ -  to its series six finale, 925 screen minutes later.

The final scenes seemed to bring the series to a close, and in an interview with the website Deadline this week, executive producer Kenton Allen of programme-makers Big Talk signalled that it would be the end.

‘I don’t think Robert wants to write a series where they bring their wives and children around,’ he said. ‘Never say never, but I suspect that’s probably it for the time being. You never know. For the time being, we’re not planning to make any more Friday Night Dinner.’

Supporting cast including Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rosie Cavaliero, Harry Landis, Matthew Holness and Kiell Smith-Bynoe will also be taking part in the documentary, set to air later this year, alongside fans including Claudia Winkleman, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Lou Sanders, David Baddiel, Nihal Arthanayake and Krishnan Guru-Murthy. 

Popper said: ‘I’m delighted that the cast and crew’s amazing work is being recognised in this documentary - unless, of course, everything in it is entirely negative.’

Fiona McDermott, head of comedy at Channel 4 added: ‘Over the past ten years Friday Night Dinner has become a critically-acclaimed, ratings and award-winning smash hit, with viewers loving our dysfunctional family as much as we do. 

‘We’re looking forward to spending an evening giving them the celebration they deserve’

The show launched on  February 25, 2011, and has run for six series and 37 episodes, with the last season attracting  an average audience of 3.9 million viewers. Friday Night Dinner is also  the second biggest show on catch-up platform All 4, based on the average number of views per episode.

Published: 14 Jan 2021

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