Dawn French and Mark Heap start filming new BBC comedy
Production is underway on Can You Keep A Secret?, the new BBC One comedy series starring Dawn French and Mark Heap.
In the six-part series, French plays widow Debbie Fendon - granny, lawn bowler, tinpot dictator - who will stop at nothing to make sure her family's protected. Unfortunately, most of the time the person they really need protecting from is her. When her hermit-like husband William (played by Mark Heap) unexpectedly dies, she makes an outlandish decision that will put the family under more pressure than ever before.
Because Debbie isn't actually a widow and William didn't really die - he was just mistakenly declared dead and the two retirees found themselves staring down the barrel of an opportunity too good to pass up. Just a few months hiding out in the loft waiting for the life insurance to pay out and then they can live out their golden years in peace.
This all proves a bit much for their easily frazzled son Harry (Craig Roberts) who - despite his emotional shortcomings - has managed to acquire a family of his own and a potentially life-changing insurance payout from his father's 'death'. What's especially tricky for Harry is that his pathologically pragmatic wife Neha (Mandip Gill) is a local police officer and, if she finds out about her in-laws' fraudulent ways, the Fendons might have an issue.
Clearly Harry - reunited with a dad he's just buried and the reality that his parents have turned into a pensioner version of Bonnie and Clyde - suddenly has a lot more to juggle. Sandwiched between two generations of toddlers, he finds himself navigating a very common stage of life - only this time, it's criminal.
Filmed and set in the West Country, the series has been written by This Country producer Simon Mayhew-Archer.
The BBC says: "Can You Keep A Secret? is the story of an odd little family you haven't met yet, but that you already know - a sitcom that places comedy icon Dawn French in the middle of some mischief we can all relate to.
"Can Debbie Fendon and her family keep their secret? Or will one of them spill the beans?"
The series will be on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later in the year.