Car Share
- TV sitcom
- BBC One
- 2015 - 2020
- 12 episodes (2 series)
Sitcom about two workers thrown together in a company car share scheme, who soon find a potential romance blossoms. Stars Peter Kay, Sian Gibson, Danny Swarsbrick and Guy Garvey.
Episode menu
Finale Specials - Car Share Unscripted
Further details
Car Share Unscripted will feature Peter and Sian ad-libbing as John and Kayleigh. The entire show follows them home on their daily commute and features what was filmed whilst driving around with no script.
When the show was announced late last year Peter said: "We were always very fond of ad libbing around the script when we were filming the series so we decided to see what would happen if we took the script away and just relied on just our chemistry alone, reacting to whatever came on the radio."
Q&A with Peter Kay & Sian Gibson
What was the idea behind the Unscripted episode?
Peter: I think it's always good to try and do something original and I couldn't think of any other narrative comedies that have ever made a fully improvised episode. As Sian and myself often ad lib when filming we thought we'd give it a go for an entire episode
So you really didn't have a script?
Sian: Really. Nothing at all!
Peter: We just reacted to whatever came on the radio and just went with it, good or bad. We hope people like it.
You recently screened Unscripted and the Finale in Blackpool, how did you feel about the audience reaction?
Peter: It's absolutely wonderful hearing an audience react to what you've been so hard working on for so long. We'd screened both series there in previous years and it's really rewarding, plus you get to raise a bit for charity too.
Was it difficult not to burst into laughter whilst filming Unscripted?
Sian: We were always laughing, and nearly all of the laughter you see in Car Share is completely genuine. Peter knows how to make me laugh with just a look - so he constantly makes me giggle.
Peter: You're just as bad...
Sian: I'm not!!
Peter: She is!
Sian: It's because we find the same things funny.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Monday 7th May 2018
- Time
- 10pm
- Channel
- BBC One
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Peter Kay | John Redmond |
| Sian Gibson | Kayleigh Kitson |
| Peter Kay | Director |
| Gill Isles | Producer |
| Margaret Mubarek | Executive Producer |
| Lynn Roberts | Line Producer |
| Matt Brown | Editor |
| Rick Laxton | Casting Director |
| Rebecca McManus | Costume Designer |
| Andy Hibbert | Director of Photography |
| Nadine Al-Samarraie | Make-up Designer |
| Amanda Neal | 1st Assistant Director |
Videos
Unscripted trailer
A trailer for the unscripted episode of Car Share. Peter Kay explains the premise.
Featuring: Peter Kay (John Redmond) & Sian Gibson (Kayleigh Kitson).
What's the 'U' in CLUB sandwich for?
A debate about sandwiches.
Featuring: Peter Kay (John Redmond) & Sian Gibson (Kayleigh Kitson).
Press
The show [Peter Kay's Car Share] is known for its gentle observational comedy (gags about local commercial radio, street signs, workplace jargon) and romantic sub-plot about whether the couple will eventually cop off. The penultimate edition had a USP of being improvised, but it made a different splash when the trans community had a Twitter hissy about a chat in which the pair listen to a "Your Song" radio feature in which a woman requests More Than a Woman in priase of her husband, who transitioned. They barrack the story, leading objectors including Peter Tatchell to argue that the BBC was encouraging transphobia.
An obvious response is that the actors were in character, and it seems a reasonable possibility that two north-west retail employees would not necessarily have got with the gender fluidity programme. Also, Gibson, realising that Kay had thrown a nuclear spud into the discussion, is careful to, in modern parlance, call him out for being so "harsh" about people.
Even so, it seems extraordinary that the BBC, which traditionally sees its remit as caution, should have ended up being more provocative about the most controversial contemporary topic than C4 [broadcasting Genderquake the same week], which boasts a licence to provoke.
The solution to this conundrum lies in the BBC1 show's title. Being "unscripted", it missed out on the editorial phase during which the BBC bosses do most of their cleaning work. By the time they saw the trans gaff, the only option was to cut it from the finished product - a far more radical act of censorship than at script discussion stage.
So the subject proved expectedly controversial in an unexpected place, but the big question - of whether one community should be permitted a veto on media coverage of itself - remains stubbornly unresolved.
Remote Controller, Private Eye, 18th May 2018Peter Kay's Car Share Unscripted review
I am pleased to state that I absolutely loved it.
Andy Lloyd, Telly Binge, 12th May 2018Why's Car Share picking on trans people for laughs?
Hate crime against LGBT people is on the rise, and right now the trans community need as many allies as they can get.
Matt Bagwell, The Huffington Post, 9th May 2018Car Share Unscripted review
Scripted element of Peter Kay and Sian Gibson's effort far outshines the improvised material.
Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 8th May 2018TV review: Peter Kay's Car Share Unscripted, BBC1
It was telling that the funniest moments were actually the scripted ones.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 8th May 2018Peter Kay's Car Share Unscripted, review
Beautifully mundane but you miss the drive of a plot.
Alice Jones, i Newspaper, 8th May 2018Peter Kay's Car Share Unscripted: hilarious & touching
What a lovely amuse-bouche this was as we eagerly await the main course - the very last episode of the Bafta award-winning Car Share, which is broadcast later this month.
Veronica Lee, The Telegraph, 8th May 2018Car Share unscripted review
With lines straight out of Phoenix Nights, the new episode makes you love John and Kayleigh even more.
Simon Binns, Manchester Evening News, 8th May 2018Peter Kay stage appearance delights Car Share fans
Peter Kay has appeared on stage for the first time since cancelling all future work projects, including his stand-up tour, for family reasons.
BBC, 8th April 2018